Bermuda?s judicial system is rife with waste, a Supreme Court judge claimed yesterday, as yet another criminal trial was delayed.

Over two-thirds of the court time available for trials last year was squandered, said Assistant Justice Philip Storr.

Mr. Justice Storr said Supreme Court judges were available for 70-weeks worth of court time last year, but only 20 of those work weeks were actually taken up by trial time.

He blamed the wasted 50 weeks of judges? time on a lack of cooperation from lawyers who routinely ask for case adjournments without giving enough notice.

?That means there were 50 wasted weeks,? Mr. Justice Storr said. ?It is totally unsatisfactory. It means there were 25 trials, at least, that did not take place and 25 defendants who may have stayed in custody.?

These defendants languish in jail, sometimes for years, while waiting for their case to come to trial.

Mr. Storr voiced his concerns as he adjourned the trial of a man accused of possessing a nine-millimetre handgun with bullets, as well as heroin, cannabis and a scale used for weighing drugs.

Albert Eugene Alexander Allen, 37, of Parson?s Road, Pembroke, was unable to have his case heard yesterday due of the absence of a key Police witness ? who has fallen ill and is overseas undergoing surgery.

The alleged offences took place on December 12, 2002 and Allen has been in custody since that time.

Yesterday, however, Mr. Storr granted him bail of $25,000 with one like surety on the conditions that he surrender his travel documents, observe a curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and report to Hamilton Police Station three days a week.

?It is a very big problem,? Mr. Justice later told . ?There are people on remand, who are not convicted, who are having their trials prevented because courts are not being used to their full capacity.?

In court, Mr. Justice Storr referred to a case heard last month in which a man accused of importing $1.8 million worth of heroin into the Island began moves to have his case dropped on the grounds that he had been held in prison for three years without trial.

He took aim at the media for suggesting that ?the courts were at fault for not dealing with the matter expeditiously?.

Other court officers echoed Mr. Storr?s concerns yesterday about delays and waste in the legal system and some lawyers called for a modernisation of the rules and regulations governing court procedure.

?There is so much paper in that Supreme Court building that if there were a fire, it would end up burning for a decade,? defence lawyer Larry Scott told .

He said the rules of the Supreme Court need a complete overhaul, in order to make them more efficient.

?It is antiquated. The administration is slow and cumbersome and it needs to be made more user-friendly. It needs to take account of everyone involved, not just judges and lawyers.?

More judges are needed in Bermuda, Mr. Scott added.

And he suggested the process of serving applications be put online, so that documents are available to judges at the touch of a button and can be sent for electronic signatures by e-mail.

Another lawyer, Darrell Clarke pointed out that in Britain the civil process is much quicker because lawyers face sanctions should they not have a case ready for a certain date.

?The legal system in Bermuda has been unchanged for too long... It?s important for the court to determine who is at fault.?

Lawyer Richard Hector told he agreed with Mr. Storr?s comments but also aimed criticism at the Department of Public Prosecutions for failing to ?keep a sufficient rein on cases? so they can be dealt with efficiently.

?It can be better done. You can?t wait until a week before and then say a witness had to go and have his teeth pulled. You have to give the court sufficient time to put another matter in its place.?