Coroners and Justice Bill

On behalf of these Benches, I, too, strongly support the amendment proposed by the noble and learned Lord following the cogent article or response to the Law Commission by Professor Spencer which I had earlier read. Earlier in this afternoon’s debates, the noble and learned Baroness, the Attorney-General, told us of conversations that she has had with victims of murder. I do not doubt for one moment that they have taken place, though perhaps often in fairly highly charged cases. As a veteran probably of as many murder cases as anyone in this Chamber, both as prosecutor and defender, I must say to her that I have found over the years that, provided as prosecutor or defender you explain the process carefully to the families during the trial, which happily counsel is now able and encouraged by the Attorney-General and the Director of Public Prosecutions to do, their understanding of the process is much increased and they understand that an empirical sentencing process needs to be carried out somehow or other. As the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, this proposal adds participation by the public in the form of the jury in the process of decision-making, not only on the bare facts founded on the judge’s direction of law but on the qualification and quality of those facts. The noble and learned Baroness, the Attorney-General, said earlier that we were somewhere on a long process towards reforming the law of murder. I would simply encourage her on behalf of these Benches to seize on the opportunity at least to make some progress today.