A Huddersfield family says a court case involving a care worker accused of ill treatment will take five years to get to court and wonders how many other court cases are being massively delayed.
Former newsagent and chip shop owner John Dutton suffered a severe stroke in 2017 which left him in a wheelchair and unable to talk.
John, 76, lived in Lepton with wife Christine (pictured together) and was helped by support from a care company.
Concerns were raised about the way he was being treated by one of the care staff in 2022 and she was subsequently arrested in May 2022, charged with ill treatment or neglect by a care worker in October 2023 and appeared at Huddersfield Magistrates on October 19 that year with the case sent to Leeds Crown Court.
John died from natural causes on July 13, 2022.
The first trial date was set for March 24, 2025, but was listed as a floating trial so would only be heard if other trials fixed for that date failed to go ahead.
There was no court capacity to hear it so it was postponed by well over a year to June 9, 2026 – again as a floating trial – but the same thing happened.
The court then tried to list it for February 2028 but the family say the detective in the case refused this date as it would have been six years after the alleged offence.
The latest date the family has been given is August 31, 2027, which is now a fixed date for four days.
A floating trial means several cases are scheduled for trial on the same date but, as a result, not all of them may proceed.
Courts use this system because a number of cases are resolved or otherwise conclude before reaching trial. Listing multiple cases on the same date helps ensure that court time is used efficiently but when few or none of the listed cases are resolved in advance there may be insufficient court capacity to hear them all.
John Dutton after his stroke
John’s daughter, Liz McGuire, said: “We just can’t believe how long this case has been delayed and wonder how many other families are waiting so long for cases involving their loved ones to come to court.
“Having floating trials is shrouded by uncertainty as everyone turns up on the day – prosecution, defence, families, the police – and yet it can all be a complete waste of time as it was for us on two occasions.
“It may be an attempt to make the court time more efficient but it costs everyone else a lot of time and money and, if the case does not go ahead, it means it’s then very badly delayed again causing deep upset and uncertainty for families.
“It’s now got to the situation where we are not confident our case will even go ahead next August which is almost a year away. The longer these cases drag on, potentially the weaker they get as witnesses’ memories fade and some may even pass away.’’
John’s wife, Christine, added: “We were so cross, upset and deflated after the second floating trial was delayed. There is no closure with this, it’s just going on and on.’’
John and Christine ran Dutton’s newsagents on Leeds Road from 1967 to 1981 and then John’s Plaice fish and chip shop on Bradley Mills Road in Rawthorpe from 1982 until 2001. They have two children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
John was also a well-known amateur rugby league player who played for Holmfirth-based Underbank Rangers for many years.
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.
