Justice Ryder criticises family courts

Mr Justice Ryder has criticised the family court system as being out of tune with society.

The senior family judge called for an overhaul to make family courts open and in touch with the public.

The judge's comments are reported in the Times today. He said that the courts lacked capacity to deal with an ever-increasing volume of the most serious and complex cases in a timely fashion.

Mr Justice Ryder's comments follow criticism from Mr Justice Coleridge in April when he urged policy makers to "stop chipping away at the family justice system and trying to have it on the cheap".