Justice: Question over advice to magistrates on riot sentences

Sally Ireland, policy director of the law reform organisation Justice, questions whether the advice given to magistrates by justice clerks is proper:

"Some instances are completely out of all proportion. There will be a flurry of appeals although, by the time they have been heard, those sentences may already have been served.

"There's a question about this advice [from justices' clerks] and whether it should have been issued at all. We would expect them to be giving advice [to magistrates] in individual cases rather than following a general directive."