Court cases are being delayed because there are no police officers available to escort accused from the court lock-up to the court room, Magistrate Audrey Demicoli said this morning.

Whenever a person, who is detained at the Corradino Correctional Facility, has a court case the accused is transported the the Valletta law courts where he is kept in a lock-up until it is time for his case to he heard. The accused is accompanied by a police escort from the lock-up to the court room.

The magistrate pointed out that two cases scheduled for 9am this morning could not start because the officers were not available - resulting in delays of up to an hour and a half. As a result, the court cases scheduled for the day were all delayed.

She said this was happening "frequently" and verbalized the situation in the court's records. She then ordered that a copy of the document be sent to the Director of the Corradino Corectional Facility, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Parliamentary Secretary for Justice.