Industrial action by barristers protesting at new legal aid payment rates has started to disrupt the work of Crown Courts.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court was forced to adjourn two cases without even taking a plea after hearing that the defendants’ barristers are refusing to accept new legal aid cases.

Both defendants appeared by video link from prison for ’plea and trial preparation’ hearings, where a plea would normally be taken.

Both cases were adjourned in the hope that the defendants would be able to obtain the necessary legal advice in the near future.

There is pressure on Crown Courts to deal swiftly with defendants who are remanded in custody because of a six-month time limit from when they are first detained.

They can only be held beyond this limit if a judge reviews the case and certifies there have been no avoidable delays.

Many barristers have stopped accepting new legal aid cases as a protest against a new regime of legal aid fees which has been imposed by the Ministry of Justice.

The two defendants whose cases were adjourned at Exeter were Alex Shirley and Christopher O’Connor.

Shirley, aged 30, from Newquay, Cornwall, is accused of possessing a mobile phone inside HM Prison Channings Wood, near Newton Abbot.

In his case Judge Timothy Rose said: ‘I understand a number of counsel are not willing to accept instructions in the light of the new payment system. All we can do is adjourn the case and hope his solicitors can instruct a barrister.’

O’Connor, aged 32, of no fixed address, Exeter, is accused of possession of 39 wraps of crack cocaine with intent to supply.

In his case the Judge said: ‘There is an issue with solicitors being unable to identify barristers to represent him under the new legal aid regime. This is the result of what is effectively industrial action.’