Now There's a Surprise

It emerged yesterday that a £244million project to monitor dangerous criminals has collapsed in yet another Whitehall IT disaster.

The "C-Nomis" computer system was supposed to share information between prison and probation staff to allow newly-freed convicts to be properly supervised.

Work on the project was frozen last summer after costs more than doubled to £155million.

It will now be introduced in a watered-down format in prisons only, the Government said yesterday.

When I go to court later this week and contemplate the peeling paint, the often-unserviceable heating system, the cutback in the number of ushers, the merging of our operations with other courts miles away, and the clampdown on legal aid, I may just wonder how useful £155 million quid might have been. Those responsible for this fiasco will suffer no penalty. The penalties will be paid by low-level court staff and the everyday court user.