Could not plea until 5th time
19/03/2012 Magistrates Court, Chelmsford in Russian
Case: K (Ed: A Lithuanian surname, not Russian)
What happened:
On the 19th March an interpreter had to be booked through the NRPSI due to the problems that had occurred before. They turned up and did a fantastic job. The client was remanded on the 21st February and at the subsequent hearings interpreters were booked through ALS and on each occasion failed to attend. This meant that the defendant had to be remanded again as no instructions could be taken.
Between the 21st Feb and 19th March this happened on 4 occasions. The client had been keen to plead guilty but couldn’t. On the 19th he was able to and an NRPSI interpreter was booked for the Sentencing Hearing.
This could have been resolved far sooner but instead the client spent a month needlessly remanded in custody with no idea what was going on.
[Redacted report. Solicitor's details are on record]
