A BACKLOG of court cases is expected at East Lancashire's magistrates courts following a 24-hour strike by prison officers.

Blackburn, Burnley and Hyndburn Magistrates Courts were unable to deal with cases involving imprisoned defendants today as there were no back-up security arrangements in place to transport them.

Such offenders are usually accompanied to the courts by prison officers.

Thousands of prison officers staged the national strike over pay.

The walk-out by warders across England and Wales took the government and Prison Service officials by complete surprise.

The strike action is also illegal as the Prison Officers' Association had its right to take industrial action taken away by the government in 1993.

Any strike action requires seven days' notice.

A spokesman for Blackburn Magistrates Court said: "We were receiving cases involving people who had been kept in Greenbank overnight, but not those where defendants were due to be transported over from Lancaster Farms.

"The strike was expected to last 24 hours, so we may not get those defendants in until Friday.

"It has not caused too much disruption at the moment, but it may do when the backlog needs to be dealt with."

A spokesman for Burnley Magistrates Court added: "We did not learn of the strike until the last minute.

"As far as we are aware it was only due to last one day; if not we expect to hear otherwise."

Blackburn MP and Justice Secretary, Jack Straw said: "The strike action by the POA is deeply regrettable and wholly unjustifiable.

"We have in place tried and tested contingency measures to ensure the security of all prisons across England and Wales is maintained.

"We will take all available steps to ensure that this strike does not impact adversely on our primary duty to protect the public."