Thugs, thieves and drug dealers could avoid court under radical plans to ease justice system backlog
Offenders may avoid a criminal record and instead be sentenced to do unpaid work or get rehabilitation, it is proposed.
2
Criminals could avoid going to crown court under plans to overhaul the clogged justice system
Sentences could be cut by 40 per cent, up from a third now, with an early guilty plea.
Jury trials would be scrapped for some drug dealers and sex offenders with a judge and two magistrates presiding instead.
They could impose sentences of up to three years' jail.
The maximum penalty JPs could hand down would double to two years.
READ MORE ON CRIME
The shake-up, proposed in a report for the Government by retired judge Sir Brian Leveson, is an attempt to tackle the current backlog of 77,000 crown court cases.
It has seen trial dates pushed back as far as 2029.
Sir Brian said without the reforms there would be a 'breakdown in law and order' with 'society taking things into their own hands'.
Shadow Justice Secretary
Most read in The Sun
Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove warned higher guilty plea discounts and out-of-court disposals 'will feel like justice diluted again'.
Justice Secretary
First convicts leave Barlinnie after Scottish Government release 360 prisoners early due to overcrowding
2
Offenders may avoid a criminal record and instead be sentenced to do unpaid work or get rehabilitation
Credit: Getty
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
17 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Senator shows Seanad picture of her seven-week scan as ‘only evidence' pregnancy existed
Holding up a picture of her seven-week scan in Seanad Éireann, Sinn Féin Senator Nicole Ryan said it was the 'only evidence' that her ' pregnancy ever existed'. The scan was taken after she began bleeding and she was relieved there was a heartbeat at the time, she said. However, two days before her 12-week scan she 'knew something was wrong' when she found her sheets covered in blood. She learned later in hospital that she had had a miscarriage. Ms Ryan was among a number of senators who spoke in the Seanad on Wednesday about their experience of miscarriage. They shared their experiences as part of a debate on Sinn Féin's proposal to introduce paid leave for pregnancy loss. READ MORE The Bill would entitle women to at least five days of paid leave and their partner to 2½ days. The proposed legislation would also lead to the establishment of a confidential opt-in register of pregnancy loss. [ Woman who suffered six miscarriages says employers' response ranged from empathy to pressure to return to work Opens in new window ] There was Opposition criticism of the Government's move to defer the Bill by a year while it develops similar legislative proposals of its own. Ms Ryan argued that to 'delay this Bill is to traumatise even more women'. She said the proposed pregnancy loss register is 'incredibly important' as the State does not recognise losses of pregnancies under 23 weeks' gestation. She said 'pregnancy loss is one of the most common forms of bereavement and yet one of the least recognised in both society and law'. Fine Gael Senator Linda Nelson Murray praised Ms Ryan for bringing the proposals, saying: 'As someone who has suffered miscarriages myself, including my eldest daughter's twin, I know what that ache is like for thousands of women across Ireland.' She said pregnancy loss is often treated as 'something that is silently endured'. However, she supported the Government's argument that Sinn Féin's plan to amend a working time law was not the best way to bring in the new leave entitlements. Amending family leave provisions or introducing standalone legislation 'would form a more suitable legal basis', she said. Labour Senator Nessa Cosgrove also commended Ms Ryan on the Bill, saying she too has suffered a miscarriage. Sinn Féin Senator Joanne Collins said she suffered a miscarriage when she was in a job that did not give her the option to leave her post. 'I miscarried while I worked, because there was no other option,' she said, adding that there was 'no system, no cover'. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said his officials believe there are 'significant policy challenges' to the operation of the Bill as drafted. The Seanad passed his motion that gives the Government 12 months to develop legislative proposals in line with the principles of the Sinn Féin Bill. 'I fully recognise the need to introduce leave for those who experience pregnancy loss,' he said.
Sunday World
an hour ago
- Sunday World
Scottish gangster linked to Lyons clan hangs out backstage at Oasis gig
Robert Kelbie is a friend of Daniel Kinahan and worked with MTK Global The Scottish criminal posed for photos with Noel Gallagher as well as guitarist, Gem Archer and former Doctor Who actor Matt Smith at a backstage party for the band. Kelbie (41) a convicted fraudster, was snapped wearing an exclusive VIP badge while grinning broadly with the A-listers on his Instagram account. The former convict even uploaded a video of himself at the gig, with the soundtrack of Oasis' hit 'Stay Young' that he captioned '#oasismania what a great night. They're definitely a must see.' Kelbie, of Ratho, Edinburgh has links to Irish crime boss and former promoter through Kinahan's now-defunct MTK management stable. At the height of Kinahan's 'sports washing' PR campaign, he urged major names in the sport to help promote his image which included the heavyweight champ who gave his friend and mentor a social media shout-out. Kelbie, who previously admitted mortgage fraud in 2012, is well-known to Scottish police and has survived three assassination attempts. Matt Smith and Robert Kelbie In July 2023, Tyson Fury was sotted out and about with Kelbie on a whistlestop trip to Edinburgh where they popped into a plush cocktail bar while the fighter posed for pictures with tour bus staff. Fury and hardman Kelbie were even treated to specially-made Gypsy King cocktails featuring the boxer's logo and their faces on the fancy drinks at VIP favourite Tigerlily. Convicted fraudster, Kelbie, who has links to the Lyons crime clan, became pals with Tyson, who has no links to criminality, after allegedly landing a job working with him three years ago. Read more He claimed to have served as director of talent for MTK Global, the boxing promotions firm linked to mobster Kinahan, which advised Fury, former middleweight and super-middleweight champion Billie Joe Saunders (32), and Scottish light-welterweight world title holder Josh Taylor (31). Fury, Saunders and Taylor have no links to crime. MTK Global was put out of business ahead of the Gypsy King's Wembley triumph when he beat Dillian Whyte in April 2022 after US cops put a $5 million bounty on founder Kinahan's head. Kelbie reportedly helped set up a Spanish gym for a boxing firm linked to wanted mob boss Kinahan. Fury and Kelbie (far right) The previous year Kelbie was with Fury when he kicked out at a taxi in an incident caught on camera while they were on holiday in the south of France. Kelbie was seen leaning through the passenger's side window while Fury tried to open the door before it takes off without them. Kelbie later uploaded pictures to his Instagram in the resort town that included footage of the boxer and his dad with pints of Stella at a roadside bar. Kelbie, who has reinvented himself as a boxing promoter, is a sworn enemy of jailed cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson (38) whose associates include members of Glasgow's Daniel Clan, MailOnline reports. Gangsters working for Richardson are believed to have ripped off Dubai-based Ross 'Miami' McGill with £500,000 of fake cash for a cocaine shipment. The Daniel Clan's deadly rivals, Lyons gang have reportedly been giving McGill, a former Rangers football ultras 'capo', information on the Edinburgh-based gangsters as he conducted his campaign of revenge. He is alleged to have ordered knife attacks, shootings and firebombing that sparked a tit-for-tat gangland clash. Back in 2010, Kelbie was shot in the back outside a Bannatyne's Health Club in Edinburgh. In 2013, a hail of bullets were fired at the hood's home at Ratho Station, Edinburgh which he fled 2016. Kelbie has since reinvented himself as a boxing promoter and has previously been pictured in selfies with legendary former Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, 82, retired England ace Wayne Rooney. Kelbie's latest snap comes just days after the funerals of two Scottish gangsters who were gunned down in the Costa del Sol. Top 'Lyons' gang figures Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, were shot dead having watched the Champions League final at Monaghans bar in Fuengirola, Spain, on May 31.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Government's appeal of fine over Public Services Card a 'waste of taxpayer's money', says expert
A data protection expert has claimed the Government's decision to take legal action against the Data Protection Commission over the Public Services Card will equate to a 'long drawn-out waste of taxpayer's money'. Daragh O'Brien, a data strategist and managing director of data protection consultancy Castlebridge, said the Government's challenge to the recent adverse decision by the commission regarding the public service card will in all likelihood end up before the Court of Justice of the EU, a process that will likely take several years and incur hundreds of thousands of euros in legal fees. Last month's decision by the DPC related to a four-year-long investigation into the alleged biometric nature of the PSC – the welfare benefits card used daily by millions of Irish citizens which can also be utilised to access separate State services. In addition to hitting the Department of Social Protection with a record €550,000 fine, the DPC ordered the department to cease processing biometric data — capturing the physical or behavioral characteristics of a person — with the card within nine months unless it could establish a valid legal basis for its doing so. Most experts had presumed the only way for the department to successfully comply with that order would be to pass legislation grounding the card's biometric nature within the law. Instead, the department on Monday lodged legal papers in the High Court objecting to the DPC's decision. 'It would seem that rather than take the time generously allowed by the DPC to cure the issues identified in their unpublished decision that gave rise to the fine and enforcement notice, the department has opted to fight,' Mr O'Brien said of the new legal action. It is not the first time the department has taken the legal route with the DPC in light of an adverse decision regarding the card. In 2019, the department appealed a previous decision by the commission ruling that the card could not be made mandatory for accessing public services, leading to a prolonged battle in the courts. 'I predict a long, drawn-out waste of taxpayer's money on a battle that will wind up in the CJEU with another loss for the State,' Mr O'Brien said. A spokesperson for the department said that the decision to appeal had been taken on consultation with the Attorney General. 'The department believes that its processing of biometric data is compliant with data protection law,' they said. Read More
