Few people know that the British Legal system doesn't consider that the criminal charge of Common Assault is serious enough to go before a jury and it is left entirely up to local magistrates to preside over and judge upon such cases. This charge carries with it a lengthy prison sentence and a criminal record which can and will adversely affect your life prospects until the day you die. And it is not widely known that district judges can sit instead of magistrates in county courts and make legal pronouncements which not even the Lord Chancellor's office have the jurisdiction to overturn. They can also pass sentences under rare circumstances , (such as when a court date has been missed for mitigating health reasons) which aren't predicated on any evidence having been sought beforehand from the accused which would then be considered in their defence. Under the rules regulating magistrates and district judges sentence can be passed without the accused having had the opportunity to speak one word in their own defence. Does that sound like a Kangeroo Court? They can pass punative sentences based on no credible watertight evidence and they are free to make spurious and sententious remarks about a person's character and supposed behaviour in open court which remain as part of that court's records in perpetuity. And none of this can be challenged. The law MUST be changed to make crimes of assault heard ONLY in a criminal court before a jury. Until then District Judges and Magistrates will have a licence to pursue personal agendas without reference to the letter of the law.
