According to HMCTS, this is due to the legal requirement that maximum security prisoners be supervised by a team of specialist prison officers in addition to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
HMCTS explained that this problem was circumvented using the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) system to establish a video link to various individuals involved. Prisoners attended court via the remote hearing system from their prisons unless they were giving evidence, in which case they would appear in person. Police officers, journalists and relatives of involved parties were also able to attend remotely, thereby further reducing the number of persons in court.
The judge presiding over the case, Mr Justice Turner, has said: ‘The careful deployment of CVP links to the prisons and the exercise of care in limiting physical court appearances to what was reasonably practicable was a challenging exercise in choreography but one which was achieved as a result of commendable co-ordination involving all stakeholders. I am also entirely satisfied that the vital requirement of access to justice was preserved throughout. I have nothing but praise for all those involved in bringing this ship home to port.’
HMCTS has said that the management of this case greatly reduced the potential backlog which would have been caused by the entirety of Preston Crown Court being dedicated to a single case over a period of 10 weeks.
Source: HMCTS on lessons learned from conducting multi-handed cases within social distancing restrictions
