On 23 March it was announced that the Jubilee Line extension corruption trial - which had lasted some 18 months and is reported to have cost tens of millions of pounds - had collapsed. It is probably more than coincidental that the day before this announcement, the lord chief justice issued guidelines entitled Control and Management of Heavy Fraud and Other Complex Criminal Cases (www.dca.gov. uk/judicial/judges/pubs.htm) The guidelines are primarily for cases lasting eight weeks or longer, but are also to be followed in all cases estimated to last more than four weeks. Consequently, they may bite in a contested health and safety prosecution and are likely to be applicable to a gross negligence manslaughter prosecution arising out of a work-related death.
展开▼
