Magistrates' courts error warning

Junior staff were often responsible for recording results, the report found

Criminals, including drug dealers and paedophiles, could be evading justice because of errors in magistrates' courts records, a report has warned.

Such mistakes could also mean criminal records for innocent people, it added.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Court Administration Eddie Bloomfield said errors in some parts of England and Wales occurred at "worrying" levels.

But Her Majesty's Court Service Chief Executive Christine Mayer said the system had "improved significantly".

Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said ministers needed to "get a grip".

He said: "This is yet another example of this government proving itself incapable of safeguarding private information."

Lost or incomplete

The report into case administration and results found four in 10 files at Derby Magistrates' Court contained errors. It said even minor mistakes could have "potentially tragic consequences".

At Chesterfield magistrates, the inspectorate recorded a one in four error rate for 2008.

Highbury Corner Magistrates in north London had an error rate of nearly 14%.

Across London, mistakes included files being lost or incomplete and the charges that defendants faced being incorrectly detailed.

Inspectors were told by one crown court manager around a third of files from more serious cases, passed up for trial before a more senior judge, needed to be corrected.

They found very junior or temporary staff were often responsible for recording results.

Additionally, some courts were not aware of recent guidelines on processing results.

Mr Bloomfield called for courts to take "urgent" action.

He added: "Although we only sampled a small number of case files in the magistrates' courts, the percentage of errors was worrying.

Mr Bloomfield said even minor errors could lead to "individuals having false criminal records or even more serious outcomes such as a person being free to commit further offences when they should have been in custody."

But Ms Mayer said performance had improved since "the introduction of a completely new IT system during 2008-09 caused a temporary dip in performance at most courts which meant that they did not achieve the target of entering cases within six days".

She added: "I acknowledge that only 100% in accuracy and timeliness is acceptable.

"The introduction of our new management processes and of Libra, our national case management system, has strengthened result management considerably."