Lamb Building Crime Team

Senior retired judges have joined leading barristers in opposing the removal of the right to trial by jury in thousands of cases as the government faces a backbench rebellion. In a letter to The Times, senior judicial figures and lawyers warned that the plans were unworkable and suggested that politicians lacked trust in members of the public. “Victims, witnesses and defendants will still have to wait years, even under the government’s best-case scenario.” They said the change would increase waiting for trials by magistrates. “The experience that juries bring to trials is a better guarantee of fairness to all in a multicultural society than the narrower professional experience of judges,” the letter said. “Cutting juries out of the predicted 50 per cent of trials suggests a lack of trust by politicians in the public.” The letter is signed by seven senior retired judges including Peter Rook, formerly a senior judge at the Old Bailey, who is co-author of Sexual Offences: Law & Practice, a guide for judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers. It is also backed by Riel Karmy-Jones KC, chairwoman of The Criminal Bar Association, Kirsty Brimelow KC, chairwoman of the Bar Council of England and Wales, and the “leaders” who represent the interests of barristers of all six of the court circuits in England and Wales. Robert Rinder, the barrister and television presenter, has separately written to MPs describing the proposals as a “constitutional surrender”. He added: “It says that when the state seeks to take a person’s liberty, the voice of the public is optional.” Karl Turner, the Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East and a former shadow solicitor general, who has organised political opposition to the plans, said: “I’m confident that the rebellion is fairly sizeable. “Whether it’s enough to defeat the government on second reading … momentum is building and there is real confidence among parliamentary Labour Party members that we can amend at report stage.” Opponents say the reported delays to trials, not scheduled to start until 2030, are centred on London, where Labour cut the number of days criminal courts could sit after the election. Lammy stepped back from more radical plans to drop jury trials in all cases except murder, rape and manslaughter after a backlash from the legal profession when the proposals were leaked to The Times. The reforms mean that juries will no longer try cases involving offences such as assault, most drug cases, house burglaries, non-violent theft and some violent sexual crimes. Allegations of rape, murder, manslaughter, grievous bodily harm, the most serious drug offences, robbery and arson with intent to kill will continue to be tried by juries. The change will remove the right of defendants to elect crown court trials in so-called either-way cases that could be heard by magistrates, who will be given extended sentencing powers. Limiting jury trials to those likely to face longer sentences means serial offenders could be more likely to get a jury than a first-time defendant, claim critics. thetimes.com/article/1a3272…

Season’s Greetings from all at Lamb Building Chambers. With thanks to our colleagues, clerks, and those we have worked with throughout the year. We wish you a restful Christmas and a successful New Year.

We go through Ministers for Justice at quite some rate. If they resigned every time an offender was released in error, we’d go through about one a month.

Some background context required from our perspective when interpreting this frankly disingenuous tweet: There was also a period of Direct Rule between Jan 2017 - Jan 2020. It was the UK government that decided upon and funded the uplift of police numbers in that period as part of the Brexit process. 2020 saw the reformation of the Executive, the appointment of Minister Long, and the unfulfilled New Decade New Approach promise to bring the PSNI’s officer numbers up to 7500. Officer numbers then tumbled when the Executive dissolved again from October 2022 until February 2024. In early 2024 on the reformation of the Executive the PSNI had around 6300 officers but the decline has continued as on 1st October 2025 there are now 6190 officers (the lowest in PSNI’s existence). The forward facing recovery plan being attributed to Minister Long was actually developed and submitted by @ChiefConPSNI Both NIPB and DOJ were consulted and assisted with the compilation of the plan but it remains PSNI’s business case submission. With the ongoing dithering and delay by the Executive in funding this plan the suggested uplift trajectory on the graph is already behind schedule. That’s because Phaze 1 of the plan was supposed to start in April 2025 but still hasn’t been funded so numbers have continued to go backwards. Even if some of the required funding started tomorrow PSNI are now not going to be able to meet the first staging post of having 6500 officers in post by April 2026.

Wait… In 2016 we were told we needed British Judges to decide our laws, not some interfering European Courts. Now in 2025 they are telling us we have the wrong sort of British Judges? What they mean is they want to select Judges that will agree with them. That’s not a judiciary.

Ed Hand is now Grade 4 on the General list. Natalie Turner, Benjamin Hale and Mark Savage have all been upgraded to Grade 2.

Congratulations to members who have successfully applied to increase their CPS grading. Amy Packham remains Grade 4 on the General list, and has now been appointed to the Serious Crime and Counsel Terrorism Panels also at Grade 4.

Congratulations to our three pupils who have accepted offers of tenancy this week. Katie, Fleur and Wendy are available for instructions tomorrow morning.

Lamb Buildings’s @AmyPackham2020 and @mjshilliday appeared for the Prosecution at trial in this case.

Thanks very much to Lamb Building @LBCrimeTeam for hosting us at the Sussex Law Society Summer Ball @GrandBrighton. We had a lovely evening with friends and colleagues.

We're delighted to attend the Sussex Law Society Summer Ball @GrandBrighton tonight as guests of Lamb Building @LBCrimeTeam. It will be great to connect with colleagues working in our field in a more relaxed setting than our usual surroundings. We're grateful for the invite.

What??? This is nuts

Our three pupils have entered their second six and are accepting instructions. Congratulations to Fleur Houdijk, Katie Knafler and Wendy Barnes on very successfully completing their first six.

Congratulations to George Dugbo who joins us following a very successful third six pupillage. A transferring solicitor, George brings a wealth of experience to Chambers.

Not everyday I get to talk to music industry professionals at Sony Music at a ‘Lunch & Learn’. Music, Lyrics & Law.

Thank you for all the lovely wishes about Middle Temple. I should say that I am chosen subject the the Inn’s Parliament’s formal approval, so Im not celebrating just yet….

Andrew Selby KC, counsel for Tejean Kennedy, starts by putting it to Steffan Gordon that the pair didn't meet by chance at a restaurant in Cockfosters on 13 Oct 2022 but had arranged to meet up so Gordon could buy some weed. Gordon denies this. (1/5)

⁦@SMW_Law⁩ ladies at the ⁦@WomenInCrimLaw⁩ breakfast. Such a great start to the day.

We’re also delighted that our three pupils have accepted offers of tenancy following completion of their second six. @CharArundale and @benhalegd join the crime team. Adele Rainsford joins the family team.

This week we welcome four new tenants to Chambers. @NEDKC_1 is a well respected and sought after silk who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team.