The Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board will not be just another talking shop – oh no. ‘Not on my watch,’ Her Honour Judge Deborah Taylor declared at the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association conference in York last Friday.
To bolster her statement, Taylor recalled the action she took to get the heating and air con fixed at Southwark Crown Court, where she was resident judge.
Judges’ rooms and courts were fitted with thermometers. ‘When my room hit a temperature of 6-10 degrees, I would send a photo of myself in my coat, hat and fingerless gloves, pointing to the temperature and threatening to close the court.’
Taylor eventually got the go-ahead for new boilers. However, another obstacle then emerged. The work would require closing six courtrooms at a time over six months.
‘At a time of backlogs, that was a major obstacle,’ Taylor said. Luckily, after talking to experts, Taylor discovered she could get an external pump to keep the courts moving while works were ongoing.
By the time Taylor left Southwark, the court had a new boiler system.
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