In cases like this, the mitigation is often the 1st time a defendant has set out their circumstances, to anyone Prosecutor can stop cases that aren't in the public interest, but in fast-track courts they are cut out of the process when mitigation arrives. So the chance is missed.

I would say that, although mitigation is primarily intended for magistrates, in these cases it can play a dual function. Prosecutors, I would say, have a duty to keep public interest under review throughout, and are failing by engaging in a system that prevents them from fulfilling the duty