A RETIRED magistrates' clerk today criticised Home Office plans to phase out lay magistrates and replace them with paid professionals.

Laurence Loft, who recently retired as clerk to the justices for East Lancashire, said he would be sad to see lay magistrates go.

The system of lay magistrates has been the cornerstone of the justice system for more than 600 years. Lay people in effect act as judge and jury.

Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw commissioned a report on their role after reports that they were slow, inconsistent in their treatment and out of touch with ordinary people.

But Mr Loft said: "I would be very sad to see lay magistrates go, sweeping away 600 years of history. At the end of the day quicker isn't always better, but we cannot ignore the research. "Rather than complete abolition of lay magistracy, if there has to be change I would like to see a paid, legally qualified chairman, sitting with lay magistrates.

"We have a strong history in this country of tribunals with legally qualified chairmen and I would like to see that rather than getting rid of lay magistrates altogether."

The study of lay magistrates, jointly commissioned by Jack Straw and Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, is being conducted by an academic at Bristol University and will be published next year.

It is expected to compare the work of JPs, including the length of time spent on each case and the sentences handed down, with that of their professional colleagues -- stipendiary magistrates.

The Home Office believes that lay magistrates should be phased out over time and replaced with paid professionals as part of the Government's overhaul of the justice system.

Stipendiary magistrates are legally qualified, paid professionals, who sit alone and are said to be quicker than JPs.