At the dawn of my stellar journalistic career I served for two years as Crown Court correspondent of the Cambridge Evening News , and every working day would dutifully cycle to the city’s Guildhall to witness juries deciding the fate of the unfortunates who appeared before them.

With that experience, I have more than an amateur interest in Justice Secretary David Lammy’s reported plan to scrap jury trials in all but the most serious cases, such as murder, manslaughter and rape, and replace juries with courts presided over by judges. Lammy’s motive is said to be the need to clear the vast backlog of 80,000 cases currently awaiting trial, as justice delayed is famously justice denied, and the legal system is notoriously slow moving and cumbersome anyway.

Lammy is already facing a storm o

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