The pandemic has left a 43,000-backlog of defendants awaiting trial with many on remand.
A judge has claimed he was put under "improper and undue influence" to keep a defendant in custody.
On Tuesday Judge Keith Raynor refused to extend the time a teenager charged with drugs offences could be held in custody before his trial. Woolwich Crown Court heard Tesfa Young-Williams was charged with serious drug offences last October and had been in custody for 321 days because of delays.Refusing a further extension, Judge Raynor ruled that government measures which include the creation of 10 Nightingale courts - temporary courts to help tackle the number of outstanding cases - were slow, not proportionate, lacked funding and that alternative adequately funded measures which would have worked were not adopted.
Judge Raynor said he felt "pressurised into granting the CTL extension application" and "was subjected to improper and undue influence to make a ruling extending the CTL in the case of R v Tesfa Young-Williams".It will now be dealt with by another judge.
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