UK scraps plans to curb jury trials after lawyers' outcry

Justice Secretary Alex Norris has dropped proposals to let judges sit alone on criminal cases after a backlash from the legal profession.

• Alex Norris scrapped plans that would have allowed judge-alone trials for offences carrying sentences of up to three years.
• Norris said he had heard the "strength of feeling" and that judge-only trials would now be reserved for complex fraud cases.
• Plans to remove defendants' right to elect crown court jury trials and increase magistrates' sentencing powers remain in place.
• Criminal Bar Association chair Andrew Thomas KC warned that shifting 25,000 cases a year to magistrates would be a "car crash."