KEN TAIT insists that perverting the course of justice is “hardly a major crime”(HAS, Mar 11). I disagree. It goes to the very root of our justice system.
Judges, juries and magistrates all rely on the truth and credibility of the evidence put before them.
If it became acceptable to lie, to misrepresent the truth, to bend the facts or otherwise mislead the courts, then those before the courts could tell any stories they like and the entire system would collapse.
That is why the charge of perverting the course of justice can be heard only in the Crown Court, before a judge and jury, and why it carries such a high penalty.
Peter Sotheran, Redcar
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