SPEEDING up the criminal justice system must not reduce its fairness or effectiveness, the Attorney General warned while visiting Merseyside.

Baroness Scotland issued the alert just months after justice ministers hailed how new working practises are getting defendants through the courts faster.

In October, courts minister Bridget Prentice said the Criminal Justice: Simple, Speed, Summary (CJSSS) initiative was behind a 60-day drop in the average time between a charge and the case being concluded in Magistrates’ courts.

But Baroness Scotland warned against prioritising speed over justice.

She told LDP Legal: “It’s not just being efficient, it’s being effective.

“Speed is essential, but it has to be within a fair process.

“We have got to balance the fairness to the defendant and fairness to the victim.”

Baroness Scotland, Sara Payne – the mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne – and Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, visited Merseyside on Friday.

They toured the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre (CJC) in Kirkdale and the Crown Prosecution Service’s Complex Casework and Witness Care Units.

Mrs Payne was with the Attorney General in her role as “victims’ champion”.

On the issue of speeding up justice, she said: “It’s about fairness and justice for all. You don’t want to look at speed being the operative thing.”

During the visit, Baroness Scotland also said: “Merseyside has long been at the forefront of making the justice system work better, and other parts of the country have followed its lead.

“The CJC showed the benefits of locating agencies together and last year the Witness Care Unit provided invaluable support to over 25,000 victims and witnesses attending court.”

When it opened in December, 2004, it was hoped the American-style CJC would do for north Liverpool what a similar Red Hook community justice centre did for Brooklyn, New York.

The pioneering approach to justice saw violent crime in Brooklyn plummet after Red Hook opened. But, despite heaping praise on the Boundary Street centre, Baroness Scotland said it was a “unique project” and would likely remain one of a kind.

Asked if centres would open elsewhere in Merseyside, she said: “I think this centre is clearly unique.

“But the lessons that have been learned from it can be used elsewhere.”