CROWN prosecutors are looking into problems which are causing trials in York to be scrapped or postponed at the last minute.

A report by the National Audit Office reveals North Yorkshire has one of the worst records for "cracked or ineffective trials" with 17 per cent failing to go ahead on the planned day.

The figures include cases where the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or police were not ready or where the prosecution was dropped on the trial date.

Auditors said most delays by the CPS were avoidable and included mislaid files, poor case tracking, insufficient time for preparing cases and a failure to prioritise.

But chief crown prosecutor for North Yorkshire Robert Turnbull said: "We have done an awful lot to tighten up the issue of ineffective trials.

"They are a problem and are a waste of time for the court, and for victims and witnesses, who have to come back to court on another day.

"There has been a considerable improvement on where we were a couple of years ago - but any ineffective trials are bad news for us."

Work is going on with police and the courts to reduce the problems. A special unit has been set up in York to support to witnesses, and more careful management of cases is taking place to ensure they are ready for trial.

Cases where mistakes are made by the prosecution are reviewed afterwards.

In North Yorkshire, 69.3 per cent of ineffective trials happened because the defence was not ready or defendants failed to turn up.

The CPS now wants courts to make sure cases go ahead without the defendant, rather than adjourning for them to attend.

Many cases are so-called cracked trials, where the defendant pleads guilty to the original charge, or to a lesser offence, on the day.

Mr Turnbull said he wanted to ensure prosecution evidence was served on time to prevent this - and that if guilty pleas were acceptable, they were taken earlier.

The Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, criticised the CPS in August after the case of a man convicted of beating his wife who was charged with common assault.

The judge said: "There really is something deeply disturbing here. It is plain that under-charging is going on. Either there is a policy of doing it, or there is systematic bad judgment."

Mr Turnbull said he accepted the judge's comments in relation to the specific case, but insisted there was no widespread problem of under-charging.

The House of Commons public accounts committee yesterday discussed setting up 24-hour magistrates courts in some areas to deal with minor crimes quickly.

Mr Turnbull said this was not needed in North Yorkshire, but prosecutors were trying to make sure first appearances were happening within two to three days.