Court of Appeal judges have voiced their concern in a case where a sentencing date for a woman convicted of 14 counts of fraud was listed for more than 15 months later. Narinder Kaur was convicted on 10 March 2023 but her sentencing was listed for 11 July 2024.

Kaur appealed her conviction and a hearing was held before the Court of Appeal last month – a month before her listed date for sentencing.

Lady Justice Macur, sitting with Mr Justice Dove and Mr Justice Kerr, said: ‘We are troubled to learn that she is still to be sentenced. This…is due in part to the unavailability of leading counsel and the indication by the trial judge that the sentencing hearing would be fixed for his availability.

‘On this basis a future date set for 11 July 2024 (over 15 months post-conviction) is likely to be ineffective. We have no doubt that the trial judge would have countenanced this delay nor would he have given the assurance he did if he had known the likely result. We intend to bring this matter to the attention of the presiding judges of the Western Circuit.’

The judgment acknowledged that Kaur remained in custody.

Refusing the application to amend the ground of appeal and for leave to appeal, Lady Justice Maur said: ‘The evidence against the applicant was overwhelming.’

The most recent criminal court statistics, covering January to March 2024, were due to be published on 27 June but were cancelled the evening before ‘following concerns about the quality of key data inputs’. The ‘quality issues’ will also affect the published back series of statistics, according to an update by the Ministry of Justice.

The last criminal court statistics, covering October to December 2023, showed the Crown court backlog at a record high with outstanding cases open for over a year representing 28% of the outstanding caseload.

 

This article is now closed for comment.