Major Stormont justice reviews still not complete after more than three years

The News Letter can reveal a review within the Department of Justice (DoJ) into the granting of bail to suspects has still not finished, despite having been started in October 2016.

The DoJ says it remains “ongoing”.

Ironically, it said one of the issues it has identified so far is a requirement for “speeding up the justice system”.

It also hinted that the outcome of the review may never actually be published at all.

A separate review into sentencing in the Province began even earlier, in June 2016.

The DoJ said that this one has now “completed”. But a public consultation on it closed in February, so the department must still sift through 200 or so responses – and this “will take some time”.

The DoJ refused to say how many staff have worked on the reviews, or if anyone had been tasked on them full-time.

Gavin Robinson, DUP MP for East Belfast and justice spokesman, said: “I think it’s fair to say the last two and a half years have highlighted that without local ministers and elected representatives actively engaged, things are allowed to slip.

“And the truth is the criminal justice system can’t afford for matters of public safety and public confidence in the criminal justice system to lie in abeyance for such a long period of time.

“Anecdotally there’s a huge disparity between the processes associated with criminal justice in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland.

“Our process is longer, there are greater delays, and our sentences tend to be more lenient than England and Wales. All of those issues, I think the Assembly is going to have to grapple with.”

In the time which has passed since the bail review began, the News Letter has exposed the failure to keep track of a man facing terror offences over the killing of David Black.

The suspect skipped bail while awaiting trial, having had his bail conditions continually watered down over time.

He was ultimately found in the Republic and brought back (his case ended with him being was acquitted of any criminal charges).

And on the subject of sentencing, the issue of lenient jail terms was brought to the fore thanks to the case of Enda Dolan, a student who was killed by a drunk and drugged-up driver in Belfast.

His family launched a campaign for a much stiffer sentence that the three and a half year prison term which the killer van driver received.

MINISTER SAID ‘WE WILL EXPEDITE BAIL REVIEW’... IN JANUARY 2017:

Although Gavin Robinson suggested having MLAs in place could have helped keep an eye on the reviews’ progress, the absence of a functioning government cannot solely account for the long delays.

For example, the Gillen Review into how the Northern Irish justice system handles sex offences was begun in 2018 by the DoJ while the Assembly was moribund.

It delivered its report a year later – whilst the Assembly was still inactive.

In January 2017, MLAs were already becoming impatient about when the bail review would be completed, with questions being asked about its timescale.

Claire Sugden, the then-minister, said “my Department is committed to bringing this forward - let us expedite it”.

Now, three years and one month later, the News Letter has asked the DoJ what happened to the review.

It said: “Work to date has included a workshop with operational partners which identified that delay within the justice system is recognised to be a significant contributing factor to the availability of bail.

“There has not been a consultation since following engagement with partners the focus has been on speeding up the justice system as a key issue. The Department did not commit to publishing a review.

“The next step of the process will be to consider with partner organisations whether further measures are needed.”

On the sentencing review, the DoJ said: “The time taken to establish and to undertake the sentencing policy review was longer than expected due in part to a broadening of the policy areas to be included...

“It is the Justice Minister’s responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of the legislative framework within which individual sentencing decisions are made.

“The review of sentencing policy will assist in the discharge of that responsibility.

“Any proposals for legislative changes will be raised with the Justice Committee for its consideration as part of Ministerial and Assembly decision making.”