OPINION: Warning to judges - please start reading case papers before you get in the courtroom - you are being watched

I have been a reporter now for more than 22 years. Thirteen of them at the local press and close to ten at the nationals.

In that time I have watched a lot of court cases, mainly criminal, but also civil and even family cases.

One thing you soon learn about court is it has its own sense of time. The fact that a hearing is listed at 10am, by no means indicates it will start then.

At times you feel like you could be growing a beard as very little seems to happen and the clock ticks.

Often the delays are down to unpreparedness by one of the parties, leading to chastisement from the judge of the day.

But, another thing that has struck me time after time, particularly at an initial hearing, is how often said judge has not read through the case papers.

Imagine how a litigant in person must feel after they spent hours honing their statement and exhibits, stressing the points they felt may make a vital difference to their case, only to discover that the old boy wearing the funny syrup, who will decide the outcome, is only just starting to leaf his way through those pages as he sits at the bench.

Due to crippling backlogs in all forms of courts, preliminary hearings are often limited to 30 minutes if you are lucky, so to watch him trying to get a handle on what the case is about while eating into your designated slot can be a heartbreaker.

I have seen cases where the judge has skimmed through the papers, listened to the prosecution and defendant or respondent for a few minutes, before drafting an order that could be life changing for the individuals concerned. 

Bearing in mind most judges automatically lean towards officials and the authorities over Joe Bloggs, in my humble opinion, it's understanding why many people feel they have got no chance faced with such a system.

Unfortunately, these instances are not that rare. There are judges who you can tell are on top of the case, having read submissions from both sides in full, and got their wig-topped noggins around the issues at hand.

But, these instances, where the judge appears to be winging it on the day, are way too common for my liking.

Worse still, when it happens, nobody seems to give a flying duck about it or make any noise.

Unfortunately, judges are very powerful, but very unaccountable to the average member of the public.

There is a Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, which will consider complaints about members of the judiciary.

But they are very limited on what they will investigate. The list of what you can't complain about is twice as long as the one for matters that can be investigated.

Unless there is a significant delay in the consideration of a judgement or handing down of a judgement, in terms of hearings, this watchdog will look the other way.

It even specifically states that one thing that you cannot complain about is "a judge not reading documents before a hearing".

In reality, the only way to hold a judge accountable for how he or she conducts a case, is to lodge an appeal, and that could risk soaking up a lot of hard earned cash, so may be out of reach to most civvies.

The truth is, unless the judge turns up in court three sheets to the wind, pulls a moonie at the public gallery, and then passes out on the bench, there is not really a lot you or I can do complaints wise.

At a recent Snaresbrook Crown Court proceeds of crime hearing, the judge in question volunteered that he had neither been sent nor read the skeleton argument served by the CPS on the defendant a day or two earlier.

Judges will often blame the court service, which admittedly is in disarray, for not forwarding the relevant documents on to them.

In this case, the CPS barrister meekly apologised to the judge that he had not seen the document (which outlined the case he was about to make an order on) any sooner.

This was while the judge said he was skim reading one of the exhibits.

I have witnessed a similar turn of events in a Chelmsford Family Court case. Such cases have huge impacts on children and parents. So imagine their dismay at the sight of a District Judge, who didn't seem to have the foggiest of what the case was about, frantically playing catch up in the courtroom on the day of the hearing.

Perhaps enough is enough and no longer should observers just accept this as part of the court process?

Judges, you know the courts can no longer organise a booze up in a brewery, let alone a trial in a courtroom, and don't send you relevant documents time after time, so perhaps take more ownership.

A day or two, preferably more, before the hearing, why not contact the court office and make sure they have sent you every paper filed for the case.

On the morning of the hearings, maybe check if any last-minute documents were filed the night before, as often happens, and then read them ahead of the case.

If not, why not publish your personal email addresses so that the papers can be sent to you directly? Then it would be down to 'Your Honour' if you did not received the case papers.

Essex News and Investigations is now watching this and each time we see a case where this happens, it will be highlighted in the report, as we will no longer look the other way, like everyone else has for the past 22 years.

Fortunately, the judge at Snaresbrook, who had earlier said his provisional view was he was minded to allow a restraining order against a home to stay in place indefinitely, realised there was more to the case and the papers did require a thorough read up.

The matter was adjourned, for a full chronology of the case and to allow the litigant in person to seek possible legal representation.

To be continued.