Courts ‘brought to their knees’ by IT failure

Thousands of cases have been affected, trials disrupted and courts across England and Wales, say lawyers, were “brought to their knees” by a major IT failure which the Ministry of Justice is scrambling to fix.

Many lawyers claimed they were unable to access the secure email system or use court wifi, and couldn’t get hold of vital documents or prepare adequately for trials. The MoJ said most of the system was now up and running, insisting there had been no cyber attack or loss of data.