The court IT system has come under renewed attack from Britain's Magistrates in an unprecedented protest letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The letter to Downing Street complains that the system is 'far from joined up' and 'severely out of date with no apparent prospect on immediate improvement'.

But the overall complaint in the letter signed by Magistrates Association chairwoman Cindy Barnett and other association leaders is that the lack of resources for local justice has already been brushed aside by Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer.

The letter from the body representing voluntary, unpaid local judges states: 'Magistrates are full members of the judiciary, yet the system (Libra) for which we have been waiting for many years was not designed to be compatible with other systems operating in Crown and County courts, and there is even greater incompatibility with the systems used by police, probation, prosecution and other involved agencies.

'Information needs to be swiftly available for the system to be effective - and this necessitates the right number of staff and the proper technology.

'Both are lacking. As a result there are continuing delays in processing cases due to incorrect information being provided to defence solicitors by police and prosecution, files either incomplete or not even available in court.'

Barnett says fellow magistrate's anger concern the cost-cutting effects of government initiatives.

'Lack of proper support now severely threatens and debilitates the delivery of a modern, well-run service,' she said.

Falconer has said pilot schemes had shown the court system could operate much more efficiently and warned of 'considerable constraints on public expenditure'.

A Department of Constitutional Affairs spokeswoman said: 'The department has invested significantly to improve the IT systems in the Magistrates' Courts, and continues to do so.'

'Since 2003, staff working in magistrates' courts have been provided with access to modern computers and up to date tools, including email which enables them to communicate across the courts and wider justice system,' she said.

'To further improve our magistrates' courts, significant work is underway on a number of initiatives. We are looking at case management systems and new processes across our courts and the wider criminal justice system, specifically the police and CPS, to enable direct communication of data on criminal cases between courts and police, and much more effective sharing of data.'

Libra has been dogged by delays, with a National Audit Office report last year warning the absence of a case management system was hampering the efficient collection of fines.

The contract for Libra was let in 1998 and its cost has since doubled to £400m. Difficulties with existing legacy systems include the inability to interrogate information by individuals, delays compiling performance data kept on manual systems, problems checking the payment history of an offender through lack of a central database and an inability to verify identity in court through databases held by other agencies.

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