Soft justice bail scandal Number of suspected rapists, robbers and
Thugs skipping trial has DOUBLED in 5 years
‘Victims are being let down again and again’
THE number of accused rapists, robbers and thugs failing to appear at crown court after being bailed has nearly doubled in five years.
Last year, 38 suspected rapists were absent from court after being granted bail – up from 20 in 2013.
In the same period, the number of robbery suspects who did not turn up at court after receiving bail rose from 83 to 164.
There has also been a sharp increase in those accused of violence, excluding murder and manslaughter, not showing up, from 202 to 351.
Just one suspected murderer was bailed in 2013 but last year this rose to eight.
The number of manslaughter defendants who failed to show up to court rose from 27 to 51, while, for alleged rapists, figures showed a rise from 1,033 to 1,453.
Last night, a victims’ rights campaigner blamed the ‘deeply disturbing’ trend on the crisis in Britain’s over-crowded prisons.
Harry Fletcher, who unearthed the figures in a parliamentary question, said: ‘Britain’s jails are full, dangerous and drug-ridden. There is no immediate way of increasing capacity and no political will for early release or more tagging.
‘As a consequence, courts are being urged to limit the imposition of short prison sentences of less than 12 months.
‘The latest figures show a significant rise in the use of court bail for manslaughter, rape and even murder. There has been a 60 per cent increase in the last four years of offenders subsequently failing to return to court to face trial across all offences. This is deeply disturbing.
‘The criminal justice system is facing meltdown. It is little wonder that members of the public are bewildered and perceive the sentencing system as soft. Victims are being let down again and again. Those same victims deserve better. There is an urgent need for the Government to introduce justice in sentencing and a Victims Bill of Rights.’
However, justice minister Rory Stewart said the ‘circumstances and reason for each FTA [failing to appear] is unknown. Not all FTAs are due to defendants absconding. There are many reasons for a FTA and absconding is just one of them.’
The statistics emerged two years after it was revealed that 13,492 suspected and convicted criminals who skipped court bail while facing charges, including murder, child sex offences and rape, were on the run.
Of the outstanding arrest warrants in England, the oldest one dated back to 1980.
The BBC issued Freedom of Information requests to all 39 police forces in England. Nine refused to provide details or did not reply to the request.
In August, the ‘ appalling’ soft justice meted out by courts was laid bare in a bombshell Daily Mail investigation. An audit of sentences at 12 courts revealed how ‘ habitual’ criminals were being allowed to remain at liberty to commit further offences.
One lout, who broke an innocent man’s jaw in an unprovoked street attack and had 38 previous convictions, turned up at court with a holdall clearly expecting to receive a custodial term. But the judge opted not to send him to jail – much to the victim’s disgust.
In some instances, judges even expressed sympathy towards those who were facing punishment by claiming that sending them to jail would be unfair.
The findings of the Mail’s investigation raised questions over whether the crisis in Britain’s prisons was partly to blame for the ‘soft’ sentence culture. Assaults in jails are on the rise and reports have highlighted that drug use among prisoners is rampant.
Earlier this year, Justice Secretary David Gauke urged courts to only use short sentences of under 12 months as a ‘last resort’.
However, critics argue that soft justice is contributing to the violence that is contributing to the ‘Wild West Britain’ crime wave. Violent crime surged by 21 per cent last year, with 1.3million offences recorded by police – the highest level since records began 15 years ago.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: ‘Courts do not take into account the prison population when they decide to grant bail. Those who fail to attend court face longer behind bars.’
IS the crisis in Britain’s full-to-bursting prisons fuelling another worrying trend in our justice system?
That is the disturbing implication of figures showing that the number of suspected serious offenders failing to turn up to court after being released on bail has doubled in just five years.
Last year 150 alleged robbers, dozens of alleged rapists and more than 350 suspects in assault cases did not appear before the judge after they were let out ahead of trial. many will simply have gone on the run.
if cases cannot go ahead because defendants who could have been remanded in custody are walking the streets, that is an insult to victims and a gross failure of justice.