I am delighted to announce that Kent’s Nightingale Court is now operational.
The court, based at Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel, will carry out Crown Court work and provide an additional two hearing rooms on top of the current operational capability helping to reduce delays to cases, and deliver speedier justice for victims. This will also help reduce the drop off in cases, something that is a particular problem for domestic violence or sexual assault.
As you will know from previous posts, this is something I have been pushing hard for alongside our PPC Matthew Scott; I have asked many times about it in the House of Commons and I also met with the Minister for Immigration Compliance and Courts, Chris Philp with Matthew Scott to discuss the plans in detail.
Victims deserve swift justice so I am delighted that we now have the resources in place here in Kent to tackle the court backlog. And, thank you to everyone involved in delivering it.