City is slowest in country for processing sex assault cases
PLEDGED
NEW figures reveal that Leicester victims of sexual assaults face the longest wait for their cases to be dealt with and their attackers brought to justice.
Figures from around the country compiled by the BBC show that the average sexual attack case takes about nine months from beginning to end.
But in Leicester it takes about a year and a quarter – 453 days – on average.
As well as being the worst in the country, Leicester’s figure was nearly 40 days longer than Ipswich’s, which was the second worst at 414 days.
The average time – measured as the period from the first crown court hearing until the conclusion of the case – was 266 days.
Neighbouring cities Nottingham and Derby both had figures just below 325 days, while the best figure belonged to Plymouth, which managed to get sexual assault cases dealt with in just 76 days, on average.
The BBC reported that criminal barristers blame funding cuts and a reduction in the amount of work judges can do, while Justice Secretary Dominic Raab blamed the high figures on the pandemic.
One rape victim, whose case took
two years to conclude, told the BBC: “I don’t even have the words to explain how awful it has been.”
The woman had been raped by someone she knew in 2017 and hoped the case would soon reach the courts.
But it was only in the summer of
2019 that the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the police to charge the suspect.
And then, because of backlogs, the earliest trial date available was in April 2020 but the closure of courts during the pandemic meant the case was put back again until 2021.
The attacker was not convicted and jailed until last summer.
The victim said: “God forbid it ever happened again, or to any of my family, but I wouldn’t promote going through the system and even reporting a crime of this nature any more.”
The pandemic caused a massive backlog of cases in the country’s legal system, reaching a high of about 61,000 cases awaiting hearings in 2021.
That number has since reduced to 58,818 as of December last year.
Mr Raab told the BBC he will increase Legal Aid, keep operating the temporary courts set up during the pandemic and fund unlimited sitting days of available judges for the next year.
He said: “I know that it’s very difficult for anyone that’s been a victim of rape or serious sexual violence.
“You recover from the original crime - and then you’ve got to muster the courage to go through the (courts) process.
“I’m absolutely committed to making sure those victims have the support at every step of the way.”
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