Responding to the BBC on prosecutors’ reading all pleas and mitigations, Tom Frankin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association said:
“All prosecuting authorities – whether that be the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the case of public prosecutions or the myriad of organisations that take out private prosecutions, must ensure that cases they bring before the court have passed a public interest test. TV Licensing, as one of those private prosecutors, cannot outsource this responsibility to others.
“Cases should not be coming to court if they do not pass this public interest test – causing distress to vulnerable defendants, and clogging up overburdened courts. That’s why we have called for private prosecutors to have to read all pleas and mitigations – just as the CPS has to do.
“At the same time, we are calling for only the most experienced magistrates to handle Single Justice Procedure cases, and for better training for them, so that they are better equipped to spot cases that prosecutors have brought forward that need referring back.”
