Straw orders court warrants probe

The inquiry follows reports that some criminals have avoided prosecution because warrants were not issued for the arrests of defendants who did not turn up in court.

Mr Straw said the issue of the withdrawal of warrants at Leeds magistrates' court, which was reported to ministers last week, was "of particular concern".

It is understood the alleged crimes are relatively minor and include offences such as repeat burglary. It is not thought that serious sex offenders are at large.

West Yorkshire Police said it would be inappropriate to comment while an inquiry was taking place.

Mr Straw told MPs he had asked the Chief Inspector of Courts Administration to work with the Chief Inspectors for the Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service to conduct a "thorough inspection" of warrant processes over the recording of outcomes of cases, principally between 1997 and 2003, at Leeds Magistrates' Court.

The alleged blunder was disclosed when officials at the newly-created HM Courts Service, which reports directly to the Ministry of Justice, reviewed procedures in the old Magistrates' Court Committee and found failures at Leeds.

In a written ministerial statement Mr Straw said two issues of concern had been identified at the court. These related to updating the police national computer and the process used for withdrawing warrants issued by the court for the arrest of defendants who fail to appear.

Mr Straw said a "continuing issue" was identified at Leeds about the effectiveness of processes for the 2.2 million cases dealt with nationally each year.

He added that court staff had identified a further problem with a process dating back to 2003 to withdraw old failure-to-appear warrants which had been agreed by the court, the CPS and the police.