I do not seek to comment on the broad issues raised by the author of the letter ‘Smelling a rat', but I do take strong issue with the facts set out in the two cases he cites in his argument.

In each case he mentions that mode of trial seems to have taken into account, inter alia, the defendant’s previous convictions. That is one factor that magistrates are expressly prohibited from taking into account when determining mode of trial in an either-way case.

Richard Parkin, Senior Crown prosecutor, Kent CPS