Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

Of course, I will consider that because the noble and learned Lord asks me to do so. However, I come back to the main point. At the end of the day, we need a robust test that will meet the necessity of the case in the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland—that is, not to find that cases where the administration of justice is at risk will be put at risk because the DPP or anyone else is asked to submit the issue to too high a test. There is evidence of cases where intimidation is a risk and where perverse verdicts and intimidation of juries will be a risk. I believe that no one in the Committee or in the House as a whole wants to see cases where justice cannot be done for those reasons, so we need to get the test right. The noble Baroness, Lady Harris, asked me whether I saw a conflict between the interests of justice and the administration of justice. I do not. I do not think that administration of justice amounts to expediency. I believe it to be an expression that is frequently used in the concept of justice. Only recently I described my own role as one where I have to act to support the administration of justice. I will reflect on quite where the difference between the expressions arises but I am quite confident that a test based on the administration of justice is not a test about expediency. The final amendment would enable non-jury trial only if the director was satisfied that no other measures would address the risk to the administration of justice. We are focused on reducing the risk to jurors, which is why we are taking forward a number of measures. These include: balloting of jurors by number rather than name; increased use of screening of jurors from the public; separate juror accommodation where possible; and increased protections for juror information, including making it an offence to disclose juror information without lawful authority. The measures will not entirely eliminate the risk of jury tampering; we believe that some form of non-jury trial remains necessary. For example, screening and balloting by number will not prevent jurors being recognised by the defendant or his associates. In a small jurisdiction such as Northern Ireland, the only other measures that could be taken would have such a large impact on the life of the juror and his family, such as relocation, that they go beyond what is a reasonable price to pay for having a sound and safe administration of justice. I cannot accept that amendment, although I would expect whoever the decision maker is—the DPP—to take into account the fact that other measures are available when considering whether there is a risk. This has been a valuable debate on important issues, and I hope that what I have said has been helpful in explaining the Government’s position.