Jubilee line case: protocol will see judges adopt greater project management role

The collapse of a two-year fraud trial last week at a £60 million cost to the taxpayer should not be seized upon as evidence that juries are incapable of trying complex fraud cases, solicitors warned this week.


However, lawyers acknowledged the urgent need for the protocol issued by the Lord Chief Justice's office to impose stricter judicial control of fraud and complex criminal trials.


The aborted trial, which concerned allegations of inside information in relation to the construction of the Jubilee Line extension to the London tube, had been beset by delays, disruption, and jurors' sickness and financial difficulties. All six defendants were formally cleared of the charges last week. The case has sparked debate over whether juries are appropriate for complex cases.


Brian Spiro, London-based partner at BCL Burton Copeland, who acted for two of the defendants, said: 'Having lived through every second and minute of the Jubilee Line case, it does not demonstrate a problem with the jury system. But it demonstrates the need to ensure that the cases are managed in a way that will make the jury's job easier. That obligation is on all sides, not just the prosecution.'


He added: 'The issue is whether a prosecution has properly defined its case and particularised it so that the defence can answer it. At the very start of the trial there was a defence application that the prosecution should better particularise their case, because otherwise it was far too general in nature. That was rejected, but two years down the line, [it turned out to be] the case.'


Michael O'Kane, partner at London firm Peters & Peters, who is acting for a defendant in a second trial related to the Jubilee Line proceedings, said: 'There was no evidence suggesting the jury was unable to understand any of the concepts in the Jubilee Line case. The real issue is, why are these cases taking so long? Because there is insufficient case management by judges, and insufficient focus on the issues by the prosecution.'


A protocol on best practice launched by Lord Woolf last month will see judges take on more of a project management role, with more time set aside for early case management sessions to reduce future trial weeks and formal reading time by the judge. The same judge will manage the case 'from cradle to grave', and will be encouraged to prune indictments or try defendants separately to reduce trial length. A three-month limit will be the target for most trials, with only exceptional cases exceeding six months.