Jess Phillips Reveals Personal Court Backlog Ordeal, Urges Jury Trial Reform
Labour's safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has disclosed that a man accused of breaching a restraining order against her will not face trial until 2028, as she passionately advocates for sweeping reforms to England and Wales' "broken" court system. In an exclusive interview, Phillips revealed how personal experience has shaped her "100%" support for the controversial courts and tribunals bill currently facing parliamentary scrutiny.
"I Am a Victim of the Backlog"
"I am a victim of the backlog, and I know what it feels like to be a victim of crime," Phillips told the Guardian, describing how the court system is frequently exploited to control victims. "I see the court system used to control victims all the time; it is a tactic that is well known among those who study stalking, and it has to change."
The minister expressed bewilderment that her case had been escalated to crown court rather than being handled at magistrates level, creating an extraordinary four-year delay. "It's OK for me. I've got extra security, I've got other safeguards," she acknowledged. "But imagine that was a breach of an order against a violent ex-husband, and it's going to be heard in more than two years' time. Are you joking? That's absolutely mental."
Record Backlog Crisis
The crown court backlog has reached unprecedented levels of 80,000 cases, meaning some defendants charged today might not face trial until 2030. Phillips warned that without the proposed measures to limit jury trials, the bill stands little chance of addressing this crisis. "Attrition means baddies get away with it. It leaves rapists on the street," she stated bluntly.
"It's awful for a victim of rape who has had the bravery to come forward to be left waiting for years, but if they drop out of the system it also means that person might go on to rape somebody else."
Controversial Reforms Face Opposition
The government faces one of its most significant backbench rebellions since taking power as MPs vote on the bill's second reading. Justice Secretary David Lammy's proposals, based on recommendations by Brian Leveson, include creating a new criminal court where judges hear cases alone, magistrates-only hearings for offences carrying maximum two-year sentences, and judge-only trials for complex fraud cases.
Thousands of lawyers have condemned the plans as "unpopular, untested and poorly evidenced" in a letter to the prime minister. Lammy also faces pressure from Jo Hamilton, a former Post Office operator wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal, who warned the reforms would "further erode trust in the establishment."
Personal Experience of Court Control
Phillips described how the automatic right of appeal from magistrates courts, which the bill would remove, had been used as a "weapon" against her. Recalling a previous case where a man found guilty of harassment and death threats appealed to crown court, she said: "I was genuinely flabbergasted that he could control me in this way."
"This is a man who has wished me dead who gets to say, you can't go to work today. You can't pick your children up from school. Today you are going go where I say you go. That felt like a horrible power over me," Phillips revealed. "It was horrible, and I hated it and I was really upset by it. And that is me – what if this is happening to women who have been abused by their controlling ex-partners?"
Cross-Party Support for Change
A group of 40 female Labour MPs, including former women and equalities minister Anneliese Dodds, wrote to Lammy urging him to "remain steadfast" with the reforms. They highlighted "the agonising and rising waiting lists in our courts, which mean that a woman reporting domestic abuse or coercive control today may be told her trial won't come to court until 2030. That is intolerable."
Natalie Fleet, Labour MP for Bolsover and a victim of grooming and rape, emphasized the need to disrupt the "status quo" in courts. "This is a difficult bill, but it's going to pass and the difference it will make to women and girls is massive," she asserted.
The bill represents one of the most significant proposed overhauls of the criminal justice system in recent years, pitting concerns about court efficiency against traditional rights to jury trials, with victims' experiences at the heart of the debate.
