Solicitors' firm accepts defeat in battle to save court

Robin Murray & Co, the Kent law firm which launched a judicial review to save Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court, has accepted defeat.

The High Court rejected the judicial review last week, along with another one brought by the Vale of Glamorgan District Council to save Barry Magistrates' Court in Wales.

Richard Atkinson, managing partner of Robin Murray & Co, said: 'We are extremely sorry that we have failed to save Sittingbourne Magistrates' Court from closure.

'The decision of the court, which we respect, was that the Ministry of Justice had the right to close Sittingbourne Court following the consultation procedure that was carried out last year.

'It does not mean that that decision was right. In our opinion it clearly was not.'

Atkinson said closure of Sittingbourne Magistrates' left the whole of the borough of Swale, a socially deprived area ranked as the ninth most deprived in the South East, without a magistrates', youth or family court.

'This means that victims, witnesses and defendants will be forced to travel many miles to obtain justice, in some instances this involve journeys of 40 miles which by public transport could take up to six hours in total,' he said.

Atkinson said Sittingbourne was not underused and the MoJ admitted that the utilisation rate was 82 per cent, two per cent higher than its minimum benchmark that it had originally set for the cuts.

Atkinson said another local firm, Copland and Sons on the Isle of Sheppey, had contributed time and pledged money to the campaign.

He said the distances people would now be forced to travel may lead to witnesses and defendants failing to attend.

'This may also result in more people being kept in prison before their cases are dealt with in order to ensure their attendance at court,' Atkinson said.

'As a result of this decision justice will suffer and the cost to the criminal justice system overall is likely to rise. We therefore call upon the Ministry of Justice to reconsider even at this late stage their decision to close the court.'