A judge has criticised the Crown Prosecution Service after a dangerous driver had his sentencing delayed for the second time because key pieces of evidence were not made available in time.
At Manchester Crown Court this afternoon, October 4, Judge Timothy Smith reluctantly adjourned the sentencing hearing for Junaid Dar until October 15, before ordering Miss Brown, prosecuting, to submit a written document outlining why there'd been so many delays - or risk a wasted costs order.
Dar, who appeared in front of the judge assisted by an interpreter, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving at a hearing on August 17, after a crash on April 12, 2020.
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No details of the crash, which happened in Salford, were shared in Monday's short hearing, but extensive CCTV and a collision reconstruction report will be part of the evidence shown during the sentencing.
This evidence was available today, but had not been provided to Miss McKnight, defending, or to Judge Smith prior to the hearing to assist either of them.
Addressing Dar, Judge Smith said: "I'm afraid that it's not possible to fairly proceed to sentence today and in order to allow for time for both your barrister to consider the information properly and for statements that have not yet been uploaded to be uploaded I'm going to adjourn until October 15."
He then turned to Miss Brown and added: "I need the prosecution to provide a written submission to the presiding judge by October 14 detailing why they've not been ready to proceed to sentencing on two occasions and why no wasted costs should be sought."
A court can make a wasted costs order against a legal representative if they believe they have acted unreasonably or negligently in a way that has caused another party to wrack up unnecessary costs that are reasonable to ask the representative to pay.
On October 15, the judge sentencing Dar will also have to decide whether the CPS has acted improperly across the duration of the case and if they should be forced to pay a fee towards the added costs wracked up by these delays.
Dar should have sentenced on September 14, but the case was adjourned to give the CPS more time to collect the evidence needed.
In an interview with police, Dar had admitted driving slightly too fast, as well as "jumping the lights" - although a collision investigation report determined that he'd crossed the stop line when the traffic lights were still amber.
A secondary report made my police in January of this year accused Dar of driving at 74mph in the run-up to the crash - something the young man denies.
The initial report had suggested he was travelling at over 50mph.
Miss Brown told the court that this case has a "lengthy and complicated history" in Magistrates Court, with the defendent first supposed to appear for a summary trial on June 29, before the hearing was adjourned at the last minute.
After a defence expert report was recieved, the defendant appeared at court again, pleading guilty to the matter on August 17.
Dar was originally charged with careless driving, before police found further CCTV that indicated he was travelling at a higher speed than first thought, and a charge of dangerous driving was brought on February 16.
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