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The son of a domestic abuse victim who killed her abusive husband in 2010 (the conviction was later overturned) has accused the PM of lying after claiming families of homicide victims get free transcripts of court proceedings.
In England and Wales, victims of crimes and their families are currently asked to pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds to private companies for transcripts of court hearings that relate to them.
The Open Justice for All campaign says this “impossible cost of closure is not one that many victims cannot afford to pay — especially given how traumatic stress can impact a victim’s ability to go to work and focus.”
“Traumatic” Experience
David Challen, now a campaigner on domestic violence, has been refused free access to court transcripts for his mother’s successful appeal against her 2011 conviction for murdering her husband.
David Challen has been quoted fees of £1,200 to read his 2019 appeal hearing that cleared his mother of killing her husband. She was freed on grounds of diminished responsibility due to the abuse she faced.
But responding to a question from Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney at PMQs on Wednesday, PM Rishi Sunak told MPs on Wednesday: “We already offer a free service to families of homicide victims” to access court transcripts.
David told Byline Times: “The Prime Minister lied in PMQ’s when questioned about court transcripts…Here I am, the family of a homicide victim being denied a free service that should be available at no cost not only for myself, but for all victims of crime.”
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The London-based campaigner says the lack of access to vital court documents has held back his recovery journey in processing what he and his family went through.
On 11 December 2023, David Challen’s request for a transcript of the 2019 appeal – part of his therapeutic recovery – was refused, with the registrar saying: “The transcribers will charge a fee for providing it. There are many pressures on public funding at present. Having considered your request, Lord Justice Holroyde has concluded it would not be an appropriate use of public money for that fee now to be paid from public funds. Your request has therefore been refused.”
David says the high costs he and other victims face are “traumatic”. “As victims of crime these are our stories, our lived experiences and we deserve a right to read and come to terms with them. Paying for that service is borderline state sanctioned abuse.”
After asking for the Judge to reconsider, Challen was told by the court that even to listen to a recording of proceedings would “involve being present in a courtroom at the [Royal Courts of Justice], which can only be done under supervision. It follows that this request will require a court official to be present whilst you listen to the whole of a recording of a hearing which occupied all or most of two court days.”
The court official added: “Lord Justice Holroyde remains sympathetic to your position, but does not believe that is an appropriate use of the limited staff resources of the court.”
He has also been told that the original trial recording from 2011, which put his mother behind bars, was “destroyed” – “yet I was not informed there was a time limit.”
Despite the Prime Minister’s claims about free transcripts, there appears to be nothing about free transcripts being provided for the families of homicide victims on the official Government information page, or in either of the necessary application forms.
The five-page form to request extraordinary waiver to receive a transcript “at public expense” requires applicants to set out their monthly expenses.
David Challen added: “The exploitative system that bars our therapeutic means of recovery is a dark ages practice that needs to be abolished. As victims of crime these are our stories, our lived experiences and we deserve a right to read and come to terms with them. Paying for that service is borderline state sanctioned abuse.”
“A Mockery of Justice”
In 2020, 36-year-old Juliana Terlizzi was drugged and raped by then-boyfriend, Hubert Greliak, 35. She has waived her anonymity to speak about her experience of the justice system.
The trial of her rapist took nearly two years to get to court, as the Mirror reported. Finally, in 2022, Greliak was found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court of rape and assault by penetration, and jailed for over 13 years).
But Juliana was then told by the court that a transcript of her ten-day trial would cost £7,459.20, despite reading it being recommended by her therapist.
“It just feels like a mockery. It feels like they don’t care about us. We [the victims] are always an afterthought.” She described her experience of the justice system as “horrific”.
“If transcripts are free in Brazil, a developing country where I’m from, why can’t we do it here?,” the survivor and c