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A farce resembling a scene from a Carry On film saw a judge told that neither the prosecution nor defence had any idea where the defendant was after a string of aborted hearings due to a lack of interpreters.
A Finnish interpreter was not available to assist Luistinen and the case had to be put back.
District Judge Briony Clarke said she was 'very sorry' the court had been unable to find an interpreter.
The current state of interpreting services in the courts is inefficient, ineffective and poses a risk to the administration of justice, peers declared today following an extensive inquiry. The government was urged to use a current procurement for language services contracts to reform the sector ‘or risk reinforcing significant jeopardy to justice for the foreseeable future’.
Case against Eritrean national adjourned because no interpreter who spoke his language could be found
