Prison overcrowding (Image: Getty)

       Hundreds of court hearings have been postponed at the last minute after the government triggered emergency measures to tackle prison overcrowding.

       Operation Early Dawn will see defendants remain in police custody, rather than being transferred to magistrates' courts for bail hearings.

       The long-standing contingency measure allows defendants to be held in police cells until prison beds become available but could mean their court dates are delayed or adjourned at short notice.

       Justice officials are yet to confirm how many cases will be affected but stressed the measures, while rolled out across England, do not mean there will be delays in every region and insisted the plan was put in place to limit disruption.

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       Labour accused the Government of “stalling justice and leaving victims in limbo” in the wake of the news while legal bodies raised concerns about the “real-life consequences” of the delays.

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       Courts were told late on Tuesday that the Operation would be put into action on Wednesday and is expected to last a week.

       The measure was last used for a week in March.

       It has raised questions as to whether defendants who would normally be held in custody on remand while their case moves through the courts may have to be initially released on bail. Although the Government said courts and police are not being instructed to do so.

       The Government sought to blame problems with jails reaching capacity on backlogs exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the 2022 barrister’s strike.

       But prisons watchdog Charlie Taylor has branded the situation “entirely predictable”.

       David McNeill, public affairs director at the Law Society of England and Wales which represents solicitors, described the situation as “administrative carnage”, telling BBC’s World At One programme of “disturbing accounts” of hearings being cancelled or postponed at the last minute.

       Tom Franklin, the chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association, said: “We are very concerned about these further delays being imposed on cases reaching magistrates’ courts.

       “Every case that is delayed has real-life consequences for victims, witnesses and defendants – and leads to magistrates and court staff sitting around waiting, rather than administering justice. That is a waste of resources, at a time when there are already large backlogs.

       “It demonstrates the parlous state of the criminal justice system and the need for an injection of more resources at every stage of the justice process.”

       It was “alarming” that information on the measure had been “scant”, with magistrates not informed, he said, adding that the association was “urgently” seeking answers from the MoJ.

       Although justice officials highlighted the measure is not a new concept.

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       Chairman of the Bar Council Sam Townend KC decried the situation, saying: “We cannot continue like this.”

       He said it was “wrong” for the Government to blame the barrister’s strike as a contributing factor on prisons and courts being in crisis and described Operation Early Dawn as “just one symptom of the chronic lack of investment in the criminal justice system”.

       “Real and sustained investment in prisons, courts, judges, solicitors and barristers is needed and now, otherwise these emergency measures will just precipitate more,” he added.

       A MoJ spokesman said: “This Government is categorical that the most dangerous offenders should stay behind bars for longer, which is why new laws will keep rapists locked up for every day of their prison sentence and ensure life means life for the most horrific murderers.

       “We continue to see pressure on our prisons following the impact of the pandemic and barristers’ strike which is why we have initiated a previously used measure to securely transfer prisoners between courts and custody and ensure there is always a custody cell available should they be remanded.”

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