LONG WAIT OF THE LAW

Some defendants are spending years in custody before their trial, say campaigners

PEOPLE awaiting trial while accused of a crime could be “facing a second Christmas behind bars” without a chance to prove their innocence due to court backlogs. That’s according to campaign group Fair Trials, which says the “cruel” delays undermine the criminal justice system and let down defendants and victims.

Some 3,949 people across England and Wales had been held in prison for at least six months awaiting trial or sentencing at the end of June, figures obtained by the group show.

Of those, 1,523 had been waiting for a year or more, including 475 who had been in custody for a minimum of two years.

The pre-trial custody time limit for most Crown Court cases is six months, while it is shorter for less serious offences tried in a Magistrates’ Court.

This was temporarily extended to eight months due to the Covid-19 pandemic but reverted to the sixmonth maximum at the end of June.

The figures, obtained from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) through a freedom of information request, could include some people convicted but waiting to be sentenced as well as those untried.

But Fair Trial said it is rare for sentencing not to occur within a few months of a defendant being found guilty.

Griff Ferris, the group’s legal and policy officer, said: “Any system which holds people in prison without trial for years is a cruel, broken system.

"Some of these people are now facing a second Christmas behind bars without the opportunity to prove their innocence.

"Others have been waiting for a trial since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March, and even since 2019.

“These unacceptable delays undermine our entire justice system, denying justice for both defendants and victims.

"The Government needs to take urgent action to implement structural solutions to this crisis, including releasing people from remand, rather than trying to find ways to put more people into prison."

Separate MOJ data shows the proportion of defendants remanded in custody before trial at a Crown Court was at a five-year high of 40% in 2020.

However, the MOJ said this was partly because offences likely to result in custody were prioritised in response to Covid-19.

Many people held in pre-trial custody do not end up in prison.

Last year, 2,380 (8%) of the 28,395 defendants remanded in custody before a Crown Court trial were later acquitted.

And 6,465 (23%) were given other sentences rather than immediate custody.

The figures also show that defendants from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to be held in custody before a Crown Court trial than their White counterparts.

At the end of June, there were an estimated 60,692 outstanding cases at the Crown Court – the largest backlog since comparable records began in 2014.

That was also 76% higher than the 34,426 outstanding cases at the same time in 2019, before the pandemic.

An MOJ spokesperson said: “Courts have prioritised remand hearings during the pandemic and only those posing the greatest risk to the public or who are likely to abscond are held in prison.

“Extensions to normal custody time limits must be approved by independent judges and defendants have the right to apply for bail.”