Borough residents will face justice outside Sutton's boundaries if the body charged with running the capital's magistrates' courts gets its way.

But Sutton's leading Justice of the Peace believes the Greater London Magistrates' Courts' Authority (GLMCA) will have to scrap its plan to shut the institution in Shotfield, Wallington, because of a planned overhaul of the criminal justice system. Until the Government publishes its responses to Lord Justice Robin Auld's revolutionary proposals for the judiciary probably in the spring the future of the court will be shrouded in doubt.

But according to Alan Jameson, the out- going chairman of the bench at Sutton Magistrates' Court, a rich coalition of forces across the borough, including both MPs and legal professionals, is already in place to defend it.

It is unlikely to include Sutton Council and the borough police, neither of which objected to the court's closure when the GLMCA put its ideas out to public consultation in the summer.

Mr Jameson said: "We are keeping most of our gunpowder dry at the moment. But the two MPs are going to write to the GLMCA deploring the possible loss of local justice administered locally by local people."

The GLMCA earmarked Sutton for closure, along with six other courts, in its strategic plan, which were revealed last Thursday. Sutton's relatively small current caseload could be absorbed by the equivalent Croydon court, it claimed, but the authority also confirmed the decision was contingent on the Government's response to Auld.

Mr Jameson said: "Personally, I don't think it's going to happen, in the light of Auld. If there were more cases, Croydon would not be able to cope."

According to Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake: "Justice must have local expertise and must be accessible to everyone involved in the process, be it defenders, witnesses, police or the judiciary. The cases local magistrates' courts deal with often need this kind of local knowledge to make sure that informed justice is done."

GLMCA chairman Malcolm Cohen justified the proposals as a rationalisation of the existing system and a bid to impose more consistency in the administration of lower level justice across the capital.

December 21, 2001 09:30