GET to court on time or be locked up, a top prosecutor and the country's top lawyer have warned York and North Yorkshire criminals.

The county's and York's criminal justice agencies are cracking down on defendants who fail to turn up to face the music for their offences.

Under the initiative, the issue of warrants will be speeded up and police will try to execute them within days, instead of the current system, under which offenders can be on the run for months before being caught. The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, said on a recent visit to York: "Justice is not optional. If defendants don't attend court, they can expect and they should expect that they will be found and arrested. They will lose their bail and will be punished for disobeying a court order, whether or not they are convicted in respect of the offence with which they are charged."

Court bail only allows defendants to keep their freedom until their next court appearance. If they miss it, they are "unlawfully at large".

The Attorney General said that witnesses, too, could find themselves in trouble if they failed to attend court.

Chief Crown prosecutor Rob Turnbull said the prosecution would help witnesses who had difficulties in attending court, even to paying taxi fares, if that was the only solution.

People attending York Crown Court from some parts of North Yorkshire can face a round journey of more than 100 miles, with limited public transport options.

Mr Turnbull chairs the North Yorkshire Criminal Justice Board, which brings together the chief officers of the local police force, probation service, magistrates courts service, crown court, youth offending team and Prison Service.

He said that defendants skipping bail added to crime victims' stress and anxiety and delayed justice.

York Magistrates Court regularly issues warrants for the arrest of defendants who fail to appear at court, sometimes several a day. Sometimes jury trials have to be delayed for months when a defendant fails to attend, but witnesses do.

On one occasion recently, a defendant fled to Scotland and had been brought back: on another, a defendant skipped bail during his trial and set up camp in the Lake District. He was convicted in his absence and arrested when he boasted of his actions in a pub the same day.

Updated: 08:47 Monday, May 12, 2003