A RECENTLY-RETIRED Basingstoke magistrate has broken his silence and revealed his opinions about the future of the legal system.

Last week, The Basingstoke Extra revealed that Stan Parry - who served on the local bench for more than 28 years - was persuaded not to express his views before open court during his leaving address last Monday.

He has now formally retired and has voiced his opinions.

Mr Parry (pictured) is mainly concerned about two recent legal developments - the rise of on-the-spot fines and the growing trend to have just one person presiding over criminal cases.

He thinks that having a single person act as judge, jury and executioner is a bad idea.

He said: "Our judicial system is renowned across the world for being based on the consensus of opinion, whether that be a judge and jury, three magistrates or a mixture of judges and magistrates."

He is also concerned about the increasing role being played by district judges, who now regularly run courtrooms on their own.

"I have always felt that three magistrates was about right," he said.

"In the long term, I think district judges will replace magistrates and they will decide people's innocence or guilt through their prejudices.

"Everybody has opinions, and these could end up affecting whether a person is found innocent or guilty.

"Instead of this, we should have two magistrates working with a judge, as safeguards and giving a consensus of opinion."

Mr Parry explained that in complicated crown court cases, such as fraud, jurors may struggle to understand the complexities of the case and so a judge alone may decide the fate of the defendant.

"It is true that Joe Bloggs on the street probably would not understand some cases - but in these events trials should go before three judges, not just one," he said.

Mr Parry is also worried about on-the-spot fines for anti-social behaviour, as these are given by police officers without any reference to a court of law.

"I am worried because we seem to be moving towards a system whereby people are guilty until proven innocent," he said. "This should be the other way around.

"With these fines, it is the police who are deciding the innocence or guilt of people who have no chance to plead their case.

"I think we are on a slippery slope towards a police state and we have to be careful about giving individuals too much power."