LOCAL justice will be thrown into turmoil with the looming closure of Torquay magistrates’ court, lawyers fear.

And hopes that Newton Abbot Magistrates’ Court might benefit from the shutdown with rerouted ‘trade’ could be short-lived, they have suggested.

Solicitors in Teignbridge and the South Hams reacted gloomily to last week’s announcement that Torquay will close, possibly as early as the end of this year.

The consequences for those least able to cope with the radical changes – witnesses, defendants and victims – are looking bleak.

It is reckoned Newton Abbot could go the way of Torquay with Exeter and Plymouth surviving the budget-slashing exercise aimed at reducing the £500m annual cost of the UK’s courts.

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