In the Dock: Early Guilty Plea Scheme speeds up justice for victims

Most cases dealt with in the Crown Court result in the defendant pleading guilty.  Many of these guilty pleas are entered towards the end of a long process involving multiple court hearings.  In Gloucestershire last year 77% of Crown Court cases, that is 511 individual cases, resulted in a guilty plea. Now, following successful pilots in Bristol, Liverpool, Winchester and Reading, an Early Guilty Plea scheme is up and running at Gloucester Crown Court.

Under the Early Guilty Plea scheme CPS and defence advocates identify cases destined for the Crown Court that are likely to result in a guilty plea at an early stage. These cases are then fast tracked so that plea and sentence can be dealt with at one hearing, avoiding the usual adjournments.

Getting guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity has huge advantages. It takes many hours of police, CPS and court time to prepare a case for trial, many more hours than it takes to prepare a case for a guilty plea. By removing the need for case preparation and additional hearings, the Early Guilty Plea scheme allows us to focus our resources on contested cases which will go to trial.

More importantly, an early guilty plea reduces victims anxiety because they dont have to endure long waits, lengthy trials or come to court to give evidence and defendants are sentenced earlier.  It also benefits defendants because they will get a reduced sentence if they enter an early guilty plea.

One of the first cases in Gloucestershire to be dealt with under the Early Guilty Plea scheme was that of Martin Counsell, recently convicted of making an explosive substance. On 11 May six hundred people had to be evacuated from their homes in Cheltenham when his home-made bombs were found in two garages he rented.

Counsell was arrested because he had tried to make himself a fake MI6 identity card. He was interrogated for six days by anti terrorist police and told them about the improvised explosive devices he had made.

Counsell first appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates court on 18 May. Due to the complexities of the case, his next appearance was on 9 July at Gloucester Crown Court for an Early Guilty Plea hearing where the case was adjourned for sentencing on 17 July. At the 17 July hearing he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Without the Early Guilty Plea scheme, this case could have taken much longer to conclude and would have involved further hearings and adjournments.

Dealing with cases in this way benefits victims and defendants, frees court and advocate time and produces efficiency savings for all the Criminal Justice agencies.