Defence solicitors and prosecutors have reported scenes of chaos as they worked day and night to represent or prosecute more than 1,000 alleged rioters and looters arrested so far this week.

Magistrates’ courts in London and other cities across England have been sitting 24 hours a day.

Lawyers report chaotic scenes, with defendants sent to the wrong courts and defence files going missing. Police vans continue to deliver more offenders to the courts’ already overcrowded holding cells.

Vicky Thompson, defence solicitor at London firm Ronald Fletcher Baker, was on duty at London’s Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court. She said: ‘I started work on Tuesday morning to deal with my normal caseload, but it wasn’t until 36 hours later, having worked all night Tuesday and all day Wednesday, that I was able to go home.

‘It was chaos. There was a constant stream of police vans from 2am onwards and four detainees in every cell. Most cases started without defence files. How do you discuss bail applications under such conditions?’

London firm McCormacks’ defence duty solicitor Alison Todd said that she joined the ‘shell-shocked solicitors’ who had worked overnight at six o’clock Wednesday morning to begin a 10-hour shift. She said: ‘We had the names of our clients, but no evidence to discuss with them and no Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) files.’

London firm Julian Young & Co senior partner Julian Young said that it was ‘an excellent, but administratively incompetent idea’ to keep the magistrates’ courts open all night.

He said: ‘How can young people who have been awake all night make important decisions that could affect the rest of their lives? The lawyers and magistrates were exhausted, too.

‘A democratic society should never sacrifice justice on the twin altars of speed and expediency.’

The CPS reports that its out-of-hours charging service CPS Direct dealt with 105 disorder-related cases across England between 5pm on 9 August and 9am on 10 August, and 97 further cases between 5pm on 10 August and 9am on 11 August.

Ten CPS prosecutors presented 64 cases in London’s Camberwell Green and Highbury Corner magistrates’ courts until the early hours of the morning of 10 August.

Four prosecutors worked all night on 11 August at Manchester City Magistrates’ Court, and two prosecutors shared shifts and worked until 6am at Solihull Magistrates’ Court.

Three prosecutors shared shifts at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court from 11pm on 10 August until 5am on 11 August. In addition, 59 cases were dealt with between 5am and 9am on 11 August.