I am sure that that will be no problem at all. I shall arrange that.

I can only sympathise and apologise through the hon. Gentleman to his constituents for the way in which they have been let down by the criminal justice system. I hope that the events that my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General, the Court Service, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Bar have set in train will avoid similar results in future cases.

The hon. Gentleman suggested that sinister forces might be at work. I hope that that is not the case. Even assuming that the case involved a certain amount of bad luck, but principally incompetence, it is very serious. I believe that lessons will be learnt from this particular case—and another case, about which I shall be happy to give the hon. Gentleman a more detailed commentary in correspondence—and that, in future, we can tell all our constituents that when there is a case to be heard following a serious offence, it will be heard promptly.