Virtual plea and directions hearings represent a new project that could revolutionise Crown Court hearings.

Bob Moss has become a believer

A prisoner at Strangeways prison in Manchester was apparently recently overheard telling his cellmate how he anticipated being freed any day now.

His solicitor had rung to say that the day before he had virtually pleaded not guilty, so he concluded it could only be a matter of time before he was actually not guilty.

Wishful thinking maybe, but the defendant had actually come across the reality of a new plea and directions hearing project for the first time.

Virtual plea and directions hearings (VPDH) are likely to change for ever the way cases are dealt with in the Crown Court.

Last summer, I was sitting in Judge Robert Atherton's video-link PDH list at Crown Square, Manchester, adding up the number of professional people drawn together for a 10- to 15- minute hearing.

Each case (and there were about 20 in the list) had a cast that included prosecuting counsel, supported by a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) caseworker, a police officer, defence counsel and solicitor (or legal executive), a member of the Probation Service, someone from social services and/or witness support, a court usher, and the judge's court clerk.

And not to forget, of course, the judge.

At least those on a video link who were still in custody in prison had not incurred transport costs.

Inevitably, the cases do not start on time because one or more of the cast is in another court dealing with another case.

Without considerable patience and understanding on the part of all concerned, one could envisage court gridlock as the whole process ground to a halt.

I concluded that there had to be a better way of dealing with the administrative organisation that surrounds every Crown Court case.

A few minutes at Judge Woodward's VPDH roadshow towards the end of last year convinced me that his pilot system would work, for two good reasons:

- It has been developed by people working with Crown Court cases every day, rather than by staff at a distant software house.

- Those involved in the project, are continually modifying the system as a result of listening to those agencies that they have to carry with them to make the system successful and user friendly.

The system allows prosecution and defence barristers to submit information to the court for plea and directions hearings to take place on a secure Internet Web site, instead of attending oral hearings.

The same applies to all the other professional people who participate in such hearings.

Under this pilot scheme, counsel receive exactly the same fees as they would for attending an oral hearing.

This is an elegant solution to trial counsel being able to conduct the plea and directions hearing, as availability is not an issue.

It will also reduce the number of prisoners having to be produced at court.

The general mood being encouraged by this government is against tolerance of costly, established and seemingly unnecessary procedures protecting the innocent (until found guilty) in favour of financial expediency.

The bigger and more costly the case, usually fraud, the greater the intolerance.

Some lawyers say that the best way to protect the innocent is wholly to embrace the technology available.

One small way to deliver such protection is by raising the quality of PDH hearings, which will happen if only because the counsel selected to represent the defendant actually deals with the case, rather than counsel who is drafted in the night before and knows little of the case.

Just providing a body in court to cover the hearing is not only failing the defendant, it is not providing value for public money.

The system aims to tackle delays and lower costs by reducing the need for parties to attend court.

Never mind the saving of many hours for all the professional people involved, the present saving for Minshull Street Crown Court alone is the equivalent of four full court days per week at a cost of 10,000 to 12,000 per day.

Currently, the cases dealt with on the VPDH system are those that fall within the Stockport Magistrates' Court area.

They are shortly to widen this to Oldham and Trafford Magistrates' Courts to give a better test run for the whole system with a larger volume of cases live at any one time.

All barristers who might be briefed to appear in Crown Court cases committed from these magistrates' courts will be well advised to register so that they may participate.

Everyone involved in a case must participate - otherwise the VPDH system cannot apply.

It costs nothing to register.

Your security tag uses the latest technology.

However, you cannot browse the system until you have a case assigned to you.

Judge Woodward and his team are constantly upgrading the layout of the forms on screen so they as closely as possible match the existing forms.

The way the project is funded is intended to provide for training for all those concerned.

This includes solicitors, barristers, court staff and the judges.

Initially, that training comes from the software project managers who attend the court centre and assist with the project implementation.

In fact, once the court staff have used the system a few times, its simplicity enables everyone involved to log in and be up to speed quickly.

So a short group lesson should suffice.

It is apparent that a lot of people are focused on getting this pilot project right, as are those involved in other pilot schemes such as the electronic presentation of evidence (EPE), digital audit recording (DAR), and the electronic delivery of information about the progress of a Crown Court trial (the 'XHIBIT project').

Lord Justice Brooke, described by Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf as the 'judge in charge of modernisation', made it clear last year on several occasions that 'there is now far greater awareness of the possibilities which technology opens up for us all'.

Judge Woodward and his team are turning a possibility into a reality for all involved in the Crown Court process.

The powers-that-be should encourage the taking on board of this system, which is being tried and tested during its development.

It is refreshing to see that court staff are working alongside the software developers to produce such a user-friendly product that when run nationally will save millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

Bob Moss is the senior clerk/practice manager at India Buildings Chambers in Liverpool