Sebastian Walker

I hear this book is decent enough if you're looking for a late Christmas gift. Hopefully on Westlaw soon enough but available at all good legal booksellers otherwise.

Happy to see some of my suggestions being incorporated here. Lots to think about

Drawing on comparisons across the common law, Natalie Hodgson and I discuss Leveson's recommendations for D to elect a judge-alone trial for serious offences here theconversation.com/could-england-…

Crown Court case backlog increased at an even faster rate over the months since @MoJGovUK first cut sitting days in Autumn 2024 Case backlog 25 year high of 76,957 at 31/3/2025 🆙3% in 3mths 🆙5% in 6 mths 🆙11% in 12mths 🆙 133%, 43,974 more from record low 32,994 at 31/12/18

16th October 2028 The date of a 'fixed floater' 3-day-trial set by Snaresbrook Crown Court for a man said to have threatened members of the public with a machete "Wow" replied HHJ Charles Falk. "I am so sorry" he tells defendant

138 court rooms are shut The Crown Court backlog in September 2024 was 73,015 Up 10% in 12 months, September 2023 66,426 There are immediate easy fixes to be had before any thought of court reform Allowing court rooms to sit to maximum capacity Restoring recorder budgets

Wilson [2024] EWCA Crim 1514 - my argument in my 2024 CrimLR 692 article on s.41 YJCEA appears to have just been wholly endorsed by the CA.

We're hiring in criminal evidence/criminal justice. Happy to chat to anyone interested! jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?r…

DAY 5 – This is the prize every criminal practitioner needs! A copy of "Sentencing Principles, Procedure and Practice 2024". Thank you to @CrimeLineLaw! Comment your name below by 6pm and make sure you’re a member! Good luck!

This is true. I was told exactly this in open court by a Woolwich Crown Court judge yesterday as he broke the fixture on a major cocaine importation trial for the THIRD time in THREE years. The trial was first listed to take place in Nov 2022 after an arrest in late 2020. That was changed a week before the trial was due to start, being moved to October 2023. The Oct 2023 date was in turn changed - a week before it was due to start - to Nov 2024. And the Nov 2024 date (specifically next Monday)? That trial fixture was broken YESTERDAY - expressly due to courtroom closures, which are 100% a government decision as they slash the budget of our dying criminal justice system even further, although a number of civil servants have since denied the closure thing DESPITE THE FACT THE JUDGE SAID IT ON RECORD!!! - and now the trial will take place in Oct 2025. FIVE YEARS after arrest!! Oh, and in case anyone was thinking this is in any way unusual, I had another trial that was clashing with next week’s one, due to start a week later. I was planning to return it to another barrister this weekend, once I knew for sure Woolwich was underway. Obviously after yesterday that changed; this second trial was now going to be my focus for the next month or so. Except…today we were called in to Maidstone Crown Court and told that this other trial - another Class A importation case - can’t go ahead because there are no courtrooms available to try it!!! Two major drugs prosecutions. Both trials due to start within the fortnight. Both taken out because the government have shut off the last few drips of funding that was just about - very, very barely - keeping out courts alive. Who would have thought that a government led by a Kings Counsel and former DPP would have just as much disdain for this essential pillar of our society as the Tories. How is this fair on defendants who protest their innocence? How is it fair on men facing high double figure sentences who need to know their fate? How is it fair on their loved ones? And yes, how is it fair on the legal aid lawyers who only get paid when the trial is done and so must be wondering where their next pay cheque is coming from. It is inhumane. And it’s also bloody intentional.

In another listing from the coalface, my client pleaded guilty to a drugs conspiracy in Oct 2023 (trial first listed for Nov 2023). Guildford CC has just fixed that trial (which involves D's who were >18 at the time) for trial in Sept 2027. My client has still not been sentenced.

Courts need recorders - fee paid judges 14/10/2024 Southwark Crown Court 7 of 16 “COURT NOT SITTING” 0 recorders sitting in 9 of 16 courts open Snaresbrook Crown Court 4 of 20 court rooms not sitting 1 of 16 sitting via 1 recorder Last week 20 sat via 3 or 4 recorders Wood Green Crown Court 6 of 10 court rooms open via recorders 11 cases delayed, including 2 sentencings “judge not available” Inner London Crown Court 2 of 10 court rooms open via recorders Isleworth Crown Court 3 of 13 court rooms open via recorders Kingston upon Thames Crown Court 2 of 10 courtrooms open via 3 recorders With 2 recorders covering 1 court room

To follow up this depressing trend I was told today a 3 week international drug conspiracy due for trial in November will be likely to be moved to Jan 2026 due to a lack of court space. We will find out if so a week before the trial.

In another example of the smooth running of the justice system a 6 week conspiracy to supply cocaine trial I was meant to start on Monday has now been adjourned to January 2026. 13 defendants have pleaded guilty and that trial may need to finish before they can be sentenced.

Complainant is now an adult, having waited almost the entirety of secondary school for this trial; other witnesses have become pregnant, had a child and moved across the country; one continues to be accused by D of being interested in children.

Another sex case delayed for lack of counsel this week. D accused of attempted child sex offences in 2018/2019 (some relating to a 13 year old). First listed for trial in 2022. It has since had 4 unsuccesful trial listings and has now been adjourned to Oct 25.

Could you be our new CEO? We are looking for a passionate and experienced leader to join us to oversee the next stage of the Sentencing Academy's development and expansion. Full details: sentencingacademy.org.uk/sentencing-aca… Please share!

@No5Chambers and @sl5legal are hosting not just ONE but THREE parole board seminars in the upcoming months. Want to refresh your knowledge? Want to upskill? Want to represent your clients more effectively? Then join us at the seminars below.

Last month I worked undercover at HMP Bedford, one of the most dangerous jails in the country. I was hired by an agency without thorough checks - they didn’t even Google my name! - and then I was able to walk inside and interact with prisoners without security searches.

The new issue of Archbold Review (now available on Westlaw) includes me on the possible routes of challenge to prosecutions principally based on Encrochat evidence. It's a @36CrimeTeam special, as this issue also includes @FieldingAtLaw on sentencing strangulation offences.

This week's issue of CLW includes comments from me on the concept of a "significant degree of planning" in sexual offences; credit for guilty plea; and the approach to sentencing firearms cases where there are "exceptional circumstances" such that the minimum sentence applies.