Juries may be abolished in UK fraud trials
Publish date: 24 June 2005
Issue Number: 1363
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Labour
Britains Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith QC, is expected to unveil a Bill that will abolish juries in complex fraud trials, reports The Guardian.
The Bill will allow a single judge to sit on complex fraud trials, forsaking the 800-year-old tradition that defendants are tried by a panel of 12 jurors. However, introduction of the law change cannot go ahead without a vote in both the Commons and the Lords. Ministers are known to be concerned about the high cost of lengthy trials, including fraud cases. In March, the Jubilee Line extension fraud case collapsed after two years at a cost to the taxpayer of £60m. Full report in The Guardian
