Over a third of Tyrone crown court trials are abandoned
In 2014, two hundred defendants were listed for trial in the Fermanagh and Tyrone Court Division.
Of those 74 were ‘cracked’ or ‘ineffective’ according to data disclosed by the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service. This means that 37 per cent of all trials did not take place - the third highest of all the NI court divisons.
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Hide AdA ‘cracked’ trial is one where, on the trial date, the defendant offers an acceptable plea or the prosecution offers no evidence.
A cracked trial requires no further trial time, but as a consequence the time allocated has been wasted and witnesses have been unnecessarily inconvenienced, impacting upon public confidence in the Criminal Justice System and upon expense.
The most common reason given for a ‘cracked’ trial was a plea of guilty on the day of contest - this occurred in 96% of cases.
However, the remaining 4% of cases - when the cases were withdrawn by the prosecution on the day of contest - was the highest in the country.
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