THE SIGHT of solicitors carrying bundles of legal files into court is set to become a thing of the past as Hampshire’s justice system looks set to go digital.

By next April the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) – the body in charge of prosecuting cases through the courts – will be ditching paper files and carrying out all their work electronically.

In court prosecutors will be using tablet devices, while information between police officers and legal teams will be exchanged electronically while cases are being put together.

The police are already sending information digitally such as case material and charging advice by using a two-way case management system.

Electronic The electronic case file replaces the current hard copy and instead of being printed for the defence and the court and bundled manually, it can be bundled digitally into one document, which is then emailed to all parties involved.

The new system means jurors can also view evidence on a television screen rather than wading through often lengthy bundles of diagrams and evidence.

The digital switchover – part of a three-year £125m contract with IT providers Logica – is aimed at creating a paperless environment but ultimately make the courts more efficient and speeds up the process for both victims and witnesses.

This week Nick Herbert, the Police and Justice Minister, visited the Wessex CPS headquarters in Eastleigh to see how progress was going.

He said: “Using digital technology such as PC tablet devices in prosecutions helps ensure speedy and effective justice. Wessex is an excellent example of our wider ambition to streamline the criminal justice system and make it more efficient.”

Nick Hawkins, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wessex, which covers Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said the region was on track for the digital switchover.

“It is about providing a high quality service to our communities.”