Tory MP writes to attorney general over riots remand policy

James Clappison seeks assurances from Dominic Grieve that normal standards of justice should apply to alleged riot offenders The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, has been asked to intervene in the row over the secret strategy adopted by the Metropolitan police during the riots to remand in custody everyone who was charged, which lawyers have claimed amounted to a blanket policy of imprisonment. James Clappison, the Conservative MP for Hertsmere, barrister and member of the home affairs committee, has written to Grieve asking for assurances that the normal standards of justice should apply to alleged riot offenders. “We cannot risk the appearance of two systems of justice,” the letter says. The prison population in England and Wales reached a record high for the third week running yesterday as the courts continued to jail hundreds of people involved in the riots. The total number of prisoners hit 86,821, higher than last week’s record of 86,654. The Guardian revealed on Monday a leaked “prisoner processing strategy” adopted by the Met at the height of the riots which revealed that a “strategic” decision had been taken “that in all cases an application will be made for remand in custody both at the police station, and later at court”. Lawyers are now seeking a judicial review of at least one case, claiming that the policy meant that not only were the police applying a blanket policy of denying bail but recommending to the courts that they did the same and even refusing to issue cautions to people accused on minor offences with no previous criminal record. The Met disputes that its officers were not giving cautions, saying that of 1,881 arrests, 17 ended in cautions, 125 people were released with no further action and 623 were bailed pending further investigations. The majority of the remainder were charged. The recommendation that those charged were remanded in custody was made “to ensure cases were dealt with quickly and again to protect the public from potential further disorder”, a spokesman said. Clappison asks Grieve for confirmation that the principles of the Bail Act will operate, meaning that in making bail decisions courts should consider both the seriousness of the offence and the defendant’s previous character in an assessment of their risk of reoffending. “Any departure from these principles and any form of blanket policy on bail would, amongst other things, create the risk of persons who are eventually acquitted in effect serving a custodial sentence prior to their acquittal in circumstances where they would not otherwise have done so,” he writes. Senior representatives of the Metropolitan police will appear before the home affairs select committee on 6 September and be questioned about their custody strategy, the committee’s chairman, Keith Vaz, confirmed. Dominic Grieve Conservatives UK riots UK criminal justice Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 26, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.