Save Cambridge Magistrates' Court
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Are you accused of a crime?
Are you a witness to a crime?
Are you a parent or guardian of a young person accused of a crime?
Are you a police officer based in Cambridge?
Are you a tax-payer living in Cambridge?
Are you a prosecution lawyer, defence lawyer, probation officer or any other professional working at Cambridge Magistrates' Court?
If any of the above apply to YOU then proposed changes to listings at Cambridgeshire Magistrates' Courts will affect YOU!!
Read the consultation here:-https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371355/cambridgeshire-schedule-consultation-2014.pdf
BEWARE the figures referred to in the consultation are SKEWED ... the TRUTH as confirmed by the Justices' Chief Clerk is that, when you take away motoring cases, CMC has had 10,000 more cases than PMC in the last twelve months... How can you trust anything in this consultation?
Domestic violence? Victims, witnesses and defendants? You may need to invest in some wheels because under these proposals you'll be expected to travel right past your local Magistrates Court and attend Huntingdon Magistrates' Court. They spent a shed load of money building the place so now need to justify that. Who loses out? YOU.
Under 18? Or parent of an under 18? Same applies.
Taxpayers? Under the new proposals all of the county's remands will be at Peterborough Magistrates' Court (PMC) on a Monday. Ordinarily at Cambridge Magistrates' Court (CMC) alone there are 6-10 prisoners from the weekend and likewise at PMC. This would make a total of 12-20 prisoners for the county on a Monday.
PMC only has 8 cells. Even with two defendants per cell, which is wrong in any event for a number of reasons, the maximum capacity at PMC on a Monday would be 16 prisoners. They'll have to build more cells and how much will that cost YOU the taxpayers?
What the consultation paper doesn't tell you is there are TWICE as many cells at CMC (15) and under these proposals Cambridge prisoners will be driven right past the front door of an empty, purpose built, court.It's madness.
You may feel the simplest solution would be to have Cambridge cases at CMC and Peterborough cases at PMC but if the powers that be insist on over complicating matters, and there has to just be one court for the entire county, wouldn't it make perfect sense for it to be at the venue which can accommodate it - ie CMC.
You may think their long term objective is to leave our fine city without a Magistrates' Court !!
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