Three people accused of helping two suspects charged with murdering Ryan Kirkpatrick in Carlisle must wait to formally enter pleas after their barristers took part in strike action.
Michael Celmins, 32, Olivia Memmory, 22, and 31-year-old Ross Henry Neville each face criminal charges which allege assisting an offender.
These have been brought as part of a police investigation into the alleged killing of Mr Kirkpatrick, who died after suffering fatal stab injuries during an incident at Carlyle’s Court in the city centre on the night of September 18 last year.
Kane Hull, 29, and 33-year-old Liam Craig Porter pleaded not guilty earlier this year to murder and manslaughter charges and are due to stand trial in early October.
It is estimated that the trial in front of a High Court judge could take up to six weeks.
Celmins, Memmory and Neville all appeared at Carlisle Crown Court today, when they had been due to enter a plea to assisting offender charges they respectively face.
However, no defence barristers were present to represent Celmins and Memmory because of ongoing strike action across England and Wales as lawyers seek to gain improved pay and conditions. Now in their third wave of escalating industrial action, barristers will strike between Monday and Thursday this week.
Defence barristers are not attending scheduled court cases, nor are they accepting new cases.
And the court heard today that Neville had been unable to secure the services of a barrister because, prosecutor Tim Evans told Judge Simon Medland QC, he had fallen foul of the ‘no new instructions’ element of the action.
Some legal issues were discussed during today’s 40-minute hearing with the previously separate murder and assisting offender cases officially joined together by Judge Medland.
The case was then adjourned. Neville, of Canonbie; Memmory, of Cummersdale, near Carlisle; and Celmins, of Irthington, near Brampton, were granted bail and are due to formally enter their pleas at a court hearing in early September.
