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Watch live as David Lammy addresses the House of Commons on Tuesday (2 December) after confirming that 12 more prisoners have been released in error over the last three weeks.
The justice secretary confirmed there have been 12 erroneous releases, two of whom remain at large, since he made a statement in Parliament on 12 November.
Mr Lammy, who is also the deputy prime minister, is due to lay out the most radical court reforms in a generation in the Commons, as part of efforts to tackle what he described as the “courts emergency”.
Mr Lammy told Sky News that of the 12 prisoners mistakenly released, there are two “violent offenders or sex offenders”, both of whom remain at large.
He would not go into detail on the cases, saying public knowledge of crucial information could frustrate police attempts to “nab them”. The Ministry of Justice would not reveal any further information about the prisoners or where they had been incarcerated.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Well, I said to parliament a few weeks ago, I released data at that point, and there had been 91 releases in error up to that point, there have been 12 since then, two are currently at large.”
It was reported last week that the court reform measures could go as far as scrapping juries for all but the most serious crimes – such as rape and murder – but the proposals were met with opposition by legal professionals.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Lammy refused to say whether he planned to go so far as to scrap juries for all but the most serious crimes.
He instead said he was looking at making changes to “either way” cases – in which a defendant can choose whether their case is heard in front of a jury in the crown court, or in a magistrates' court.
These can include cases such as theft, burglary and drug offences.
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