David Blunkett wants cut in London street crime

Sir John further criticised lawyers who exploited legal loopholes and "shopped around" for forensic experts who would support their cases.

He said that judges, defence lawyers and court administrators were shielding criminals and ignoring the rights of terrified victims and intimidated witnesses.

Sir John called on the courts to provide separate facilities for defence witnesses and to stop lawyers harassing them.

The criminal justice system was "in dire need of sweeping reform", he said.

'Anarchy' warning

Without it, Sir John warned, victims and witnesses would "not even bother to turn up".

"People will become so disengaged from the system that, if we are not careful, justice will break down, law and order will become meaningless and crime will be given a free reign.

Unless we get to grips with the problem immediately, anarchy is not going to be far away

Norman Brennan Victims of Crime Trust

"If we allow the interests of others to gain supremacy over the rights of citizens to go about their business in safety, we allow a situation where, as others have forecast, anarchy cannot be far away."

Sir John added police officers wanted to add their weight behind Lord Justice Auld's report on reform of the criminal justice system.

Quoting from the report, he said: "A criminal trial is not a game under which the guilty defendant should be provided with a sporting chance - it is a search for the truth."

Victims of Crime Trust chief executive Norman Brennan said he supported Sir John's comments "wholeheartedly", and called on the government to protect society from "mayhem".

"Unless we get to grips with the problem immediately, anarchy is not going to be far away," Mr Brennan said.

But Harry Fletcher, of the probation union Napo, said the courts were already jailing a higher proportion of those found guilty than ever.

The criminal trial is not a 'game' as described by Sir John Stevens, it is a fundamental right of a modern society

Law Society

Director of Liberty John Wadham said he was sceptical about the proposals.

"Police and prosecutors are under immense and growing political pressure to get convictions above all else.

"We have to protect defendants' properly, to ensure that this isn't the wrong 'result', and that we don't send more innocent people to prison."

A Bar Council spokesman said: "The conduct of trial lawyers is already strictly regulated by the courts, parliament and the professions.

Radical reform

"External and internal rules require lawyers to act in the interests of justice throughout the trial, and this is what they overwhelmingly do."

And a Law Society spokesman added: "The criminal trial is not a 'game' as described by Sir John Stevens, it is a fundamental right of a modern society."

Home Office minister Keith Bradley told BBC News the government had already started radically reforming the criminal justice system and would "continue the momentum with a White Paper in the spring".

Sir John was said to be infuriated by Home Secretary David Blunkett's comments last month suggesting that he would be sacked if street crime levels in London were not cut within six months.

Mr Blunkett threatened to send in government managers to run the force if violent crime was not reduced.