Ministry of Justice Launches Latest Magistrate Recruitment Drive

The Ministry of Justice is seeking to recruit an additional two thousand Magistrates over the next financial year.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, Rt. Hon. David Lammy MP, said: "They are everyday heroes, and we need more people of every age and background to volunteer not just to deliver justice but to serve and represent their local communities."

Controversial reforms planned by the Government will see the sentencing powers of the Magistrates' Court increased from 12 to 18 months, with the lower court, which already disposes of more than nine-in-ten criminal cases, taking an even greater share of the workload.

Under the plans, the right to a jury trial would be removed from those Crown Court cases with a likely sentence under three years in custody. Crown Court cases falling below that cut-off would be dealt with by a single judge.

Mr Lammy added: "Magistrates play a vital role in our court system, hearing thousands of cases across every jurisdiction and delivering justice.

"Volunteering to become a Magistrate can make a real difference to your life and the lives of others."

As the Magistracy is meant to reflect the community it serves, the Government is particularly keen to bolster numbers from under-represented groups, including young adults and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

That said, the Magistracy can only ever be as diverse as those applying for the role.

As things currently stand, the overwhelming majority who apply - and certainly the overwhelming majority who are retained - have time on their hands and the ability to absorb the costs of the role. This does skew the demographic of the Bench towards older types, who have flexible diaries and are financially comfortable.

For an idea of some of the challenges at the coalface of the Magistracy, please refer to this earlier article.

It's all well and good recruiting an extra two thousand Magistrates, but efforts need to be taken to retain them for the long term.

Anyone interested in applying to become a Magistrate is invited to read my article on the subject.

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Magistrates' Blog Top 10 for 2025

The very best wishes of the season to you all.

Had I been a bit more organised I would have posted that before Christmas, but hey ho.

I really appreciate everyone giving their valuable time to read, comment and share my musings. I am truly humbled at the growing army of regular readers who keep returning for more.

To mark the end of the year I thought I'd give a quick chart run down of the top ten Magistrates' Blog articles for 2025 based on page views.

Some of these are timeless classics, but there are also a few new entries in this year's top ten.

#10 - Magistrate Interview Process

• Creeping in at the number 10 spot this year, down from number 6 last year, is my article about the interview process. There are two interviews, which quite often take place on the same day. The first stage interview is used to evaluate an applicant's general suitability for the role; the second stage interview is used to gauge their potential judicial aptitude.

#9 - Traffic Court: Can I Just Admit the Speeding Please?

• In this article I recount a fairly typical day in the traffic court. The traffic court is a bit different to the other work of the court. For many of those attending, it will be their first experience of the court system. Virtually all will be unrepresented; virtually all will have an opinion on whether or not they should actually be there!

#8 - Social Media Auditing

• An explainer article about the latest fad of "social media auditing". If you don't know what that is, how lucky are you?!

#7 - Tommy Robinson Cleared of Failing to Comply with Police Dispersal Direction

• A bit of a strange inclusion this one, as it is oldish news from the first half of 2024. For whatever reason, no doubt Google-related, is still brings in the visitors.

#6 - Man Prosecuted Over "No Shit" Comment

• This one took the top spot last year. It recounts the embarrassing tale of the Derbyshire man prosecuted for saying "no shit" to a delicate police officer.

#5 - Brothers Accused of Manchester Airport Police Assault on Trial

• Rochdale brothers Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad went on trial in relation to a widely publicised police assault that took place at Manchester Airport. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in relation to their alleged assault occasioning actual bodily harm of PC Zachary Marsden, which will be subject to a retrial in the Spring of 2026.

#4 - Perverted Headteacher Used AI to Generate Indecent Images of Children

• Dean Juric, now the ex-headteacher of St Robert of Newminster Catholic School, Washington, Tyne and Wear, was caught by an undercover police officer posing as the grandfather of a 7-year-old girl. A search of his devices uncovered almost 400 indecent images of children, of which 31 were Category A.

#3 - Driving Disqualifications for Non-Driving Offences

• Another timeless classic that didn't feature in last year's top ten, but seems to have gathered momentum this time around. As the title suggests, this article touches on the wide-ranging power of the court to disqualify a person from driving for a non-driving offence.

#2 - Absolute and Conditional Discharges

• This was only published in August, but has done exceptionally well since then. Discharges are the lowest penalty the court can impose. This article gives the lowdown on what they are and how they work.

#1 - Social Media Auditor Curtis Arnold (DJE Media) Convicted of Filming in Prison

• This complete loser is the subject of this year's accidental winner. Towards the end of 2025 it was finally confirmed, after months of speculation, that social media auditor Curtis Arnold (AKA Daniel J. Edwards and DJE Media) is a convicted sex offender. As I say, speculation was rife for months before then. People were frantically Googling for information about this most undesirable of social misfits, which led them to this article.

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Blue Badge Bust Up Over McDonald's Parking Space

A Blue Badge holder assaulted a delivery driver who had parked in a disabled bay.

Graeme Rawcliffe, 38, of Thompson Green, Cuddington, Cheshire, admitted offences of assault by beating and disorderly behaviour when he appeared at Chester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 23rd December 2025.

Assault by beating, an offence contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, has a maximum sentence of 26 weeks' custody on summary conviction.

Magistrates heard that the fracas took place at the McDonald's restaurant on Road Six, Winsford, on Saturday, 22nd November 2025.

The driver had parked in the disabled bay and Rawcliffe, who was clearly aggrieved, approached and shouted "get out of the fucking disabled bay" along with other profanity.

The 38-year-old then grabbed the complainant by the neck, which resulted in a scratch to his skin.

Hannah Kelly, mitigating, told the court that her client, who suffered a severely debilitating stroke a few years ago, now accepted that he had overreacted to the situation.

Ms Kelly told the court that her client, a man of previously good character, had been a successful haulage business owner, but had lost both career and home as a result of his medical difficulties.

Magistrates were of the view that Rawcliffe's offences were serious enough to merit a community order, but elected to impose a fine as an alternative.

He was fined £200 and ordered to pay £80 surcharge, £85 costs and £50 compensation.

Addressing the defendant, the Presiding Justice said: "This was a grossly disproportionate reaction - sitting for three more minutes wouldn’t have changed your life too much but it has changed your victim's."

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Curtis Arnold: The Seedy Past of a Social Media Deviant

The Manchester Evening News has finally confirmed that self-proclaimed citizen journalist Curtis Arnold (otherwise known as Daniel J. Edwards and DJE Media) is a convicted sex offender.

The MEN's front page from today, 17th December 2025, is shown above. You can read the full text from an archived copy here.

Arnold, you might remember, is the social media fiend who filmed the lifeless body of missing woman Nicola Bulley being recovered from the River Wyre on 19th February 2023. I have previously written about his antics here and here. In short, he is a habitual liar with many previous convictions for offences of dishonesty.

He obtained his macabre footage by lying his way past police officers with his camera. He uploaded the footage to YouTube for notoriety and clicks, later boasting that he'd made around £900 from it.

In a documentary about Nicola's disappearance her partner, Paul Ansell, recounted how Arnold had turned up at their childrens' school in the hope of getting some shots of him during the school run. 

The sex offender label arises from offences Arnold was convicted of at the start of 2019, when he was 30-years-old:

• 12 counts of fraud by false representation;
• 1 count of voyeurism;
• 1 count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent;
• 1 count of making indecent images of a child.

He was sentenced for these offences by HHJ Rosa Dean at Harrow Crown Court on 8th February 2019 (see transcript). The sentence was subsequently varied on 4th March 2019 (see transcript). The transcripts were obtained by YouTuber Street Video Reviewer. Full credit to him for doing the leg work on this. Prior to publishing its piece, the Manchester Evening News has verified the details in the transcripts - not that there was ever any doubt in my mind (despite liar Arnold's repeated denials).

Briefly, Arnold duped more than a dozen young women into modelling gymwear. He provided them with rather skimpy leggings, some of which had been modified to reveal their pubic regions, and promised them money and fame in return for sexualised poses.

Of course the money and fame never came, with Arnold instead using the images for his own sordid little purposes. One of the girls was only 17-years-old at the time, which accounts for the indecent images conviction.

HHJ Dean, sentencing, said: "SE, as you well knew, was underage. You well knew because you had been part of her induction to the gym. She was 17-years-old when you took photographs of her.

"She described being led to a private training area at the back of the gym, asked to try on different pairs of leggings, asked to walk on a treadmill so that photographs could be taken from behind. Asked to do squats and a downward dog pose with her bottom in the air. Asked to straddle a chair, and at one point asked to change into a pair of leggings where the front was so low that it would show her underwear. So a very unfortunately and unsavoury incident."

It is also to be noted that Arnold, as a known wrong 'un, was already banned from some of the gyms where he perpetrated the frauds.

Arnold was sentenced to 34 months' imprisonment and made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). That order, which he has vehemently denied having, remains in force until 2029.

I'm sure this will get further traction in the national media in the coming days, so stay tuned.

I should also add that the only reason I am writing about this now is because of Arnold's bare-faced lies about this matter being totally obliterated by the Manchester Evening News.

If you look at the mock-up newspaper front page in this earlier article you'll find a special Easter Egg relating to Arnold. Well done to the two people who told me they'd found it!

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