Exempt murder trial in Chloe Mitchell case from barrister strikes, calls Justice Minister

Naomi Long said there is “something fundamentally distasteful and unethical about levering people’s trauma in order to have personal benefit”, but was also accused of pitting “one cohort within society” against another as she criticised striking barristers.

A number of high profile court cases have been impacted by criminal barristers withdrawing some services in a long-running dispute over fees, effectively halting Crown Court cases involving those who require legal aid.

That could include the case of Ms Mitchell, whose remains were found in Ballymena in June 2023. A 29-year-old man is awaiting trial for her murder.

During questions in Stormont on Tuesday, Ms Long said the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) had proposed that exemptions to the strike could be set up on a week-to-week basis, depending on how they feel the dispute is going – something the minister said was “obviously untenable”.

DUP MLA Diane Dodds said the dispute between barristers and the department is “escalating in terms of its intolerance and intransigence, but in the meantime victims are suffering”.

Stating that victims’ families don’t know whether trials can go ahead, which she described as “a huge trauma”, Mrs Dodds asked: “Can you confirm for the Mitchell family in Ballymena whether there will be [an exemption] for this particular case, and when they might hope to seek justice for their daughter?”

Ms Long replied: “There is something fundamentally distasteful and unethical about levering people’s trauma in order to have personal benefit, and I believe that it is wrong to do so.

“I do not want victims to become bargaining chips in this exchange, and that is why I said that any suggestion that a derogation would be turned on and off like a tap, as in some way, a means of moving this forward was not acceptable to me.

“I can’t have a situation where, for example, defence counsel in some of these cases are making decisions as to whether or not those cases will proceed to court.

“The derogations were sought by the Public Prosecution Service on the basis of their professional assessment of the urgency, and they took into account the feedback that they got from the victims and witnesses service.

“So I believe that those derogations should happen, they are mitigations against the ongoing strike. They are not a resolution to it.

“Specifically in terms of Chloe Mitchell’s case, I’m due to meet the family shortly. I unfortunately cannot give them the certainty that they want.

“Indeed, neither would this idea of a tap being turned on and off on derogations give family that certainty.”

Pushing for the CBA to end the strike and re-enter negotiations, she said: “I still believe that is possible, but it will require the CBA to be willing to meet me halfway.”

In a statement, the CBA said the proposal for some derogations “would create a significant opportunity to accelerate and expand the range of high-priority cases that are affecting the most vulnerable individuals and their families”.

“The CBA considered that this could therefore be a significant opportunity for meaningful progress to take place which would benefit all involved in or affected by the current action.”