Coronavirus – Order Refixing Summary Sheriff Court Cases (1 to 5 March 2021)
Coronavirus – Order Refixing Justice of the Peace Court Cases (1 to 5 March 2021)
Dear Member,
As previously intimated, new Practice Notes for Criminal Summary business become effective on Monday. These are attached. Please note they are effective for the week ahead only. We anticipate that the allocation of priority summary trials by the Crown will necesssiate the production of similar weekly Practice Notes until further notice, with rolling calendar knock ons for adjourned diets. Please note however the Sheriff Clerk Deputes will correspond with you to confirm the adjourned diets. It is because of the volume of business at Glasgow Sheriff Court that the lists are expected to be produced in this manner, unlike in other jurisdictions which can produce month ahead lists.
We summarise business as follows –
JP Courts –
Only cases where an accused is in custody for any diet or part heard trials will proceed. All other diets will be administratively discharged with further diets assigned per the schedule produced.
Summary Courts –
Summary trials will only proceed if an accused is in custody, if the trial is part heard or the case is a priority trial. The priority trials are detailed in Schedule 2.
PIDMs and Intermediate Diets will continue to call. It is preferable that you engage in the PIDM process which then means that if your case does not fall into the abovementioned categories, the report submitted by the Crown will allow the Court to administratively discharge both the Intermediate and Trial Diets. If you do not engage in the PIDM process, then at the Intermediate Diet, the Trial Diet will be administratively discharged if it does not fall into the above mentioned categories.
Please note that for those pracitioners who for whatever reason have not been utilising the online PIDM booking application, you should email GlasgowSummaryWR@copfs.gov.uk and request a telephone meeting for the allocated PIDM date. Please include in your email the accused’s name, PF Reference, Date of Intermediate Diet and your contact telephone number.
Drugs and Alcohol Court cases – Only those cases where the accused is in custody will continue to call.
Diets of deferred sentence – Deferred sentences calling alongside trials will be adjourned administratively – others will be calling as normal in line with the present position.
Please note we are liaising with the Crown separately to explore issues relating to the PIDM process and to coordinate protocols for the early identification of priority trials to provide as much certainty as possible about court commitments for the foreseeable future. We will update you when we can. Please remember the situation is under regular review and you will be updated in the event of any further changes.
Should you have any issues arising, please do not hesitate to contact us. Best wishes meantime.
Kind regards,
The Executive Committee of the Glasgow Bar Association