Rise in number of failed prosecutions
Issues with witnesses and victims were once again the biggest cause of criminal cases being dropped in Kent last year, despite a commitment from the Crown Prosecution Service to tackle the problem.
In total 1,731 cases – just under 12% of all prosecutions – collapsed between April 2015 and April last year.
A staggering 30% of those were scrapped because of issues surrounding witnesses and victims.
That’s a 3% rise on the previous 12 months, when similar problems were to blame for 604 of the 2,198 dropped charges.
At the time the chief prosecutor for the CPS South East, Jaswant Narwa, identified the area as a huge concern and one of three key priorities for the service.
After publication of the latest figures Mrs Narwa said the serv- ice remains committed to tackling the issue but added the high number of domestic abuse cases in the county is making its work difficult.
She added the CPS has introduced initiatives and is working with agencies to further decrease the figures.
Overall, dropped prosecutions fell by one percent according to the figures released after a Kent Messenger Freedom of Information request.
In both 2014 and 2015 defendants charged with an offence against the person – a category which includes assault, possession of a weapon with intent to cause fear, harassment and threatening behaviour – were the most likely to walk free, with 1,334 cases collapsing.
Last year one homicide investigation was scrapped after a key witness either refused to give evidence, retracted their statement or was not up to proof.
Shockingly 246 prosecutions, including two sexual offences and one robbery, failed due to evidence not being available.
A further 39 cases collapsed due to a delay in the judicial process, 147 charges were dropped due to an issue with the CPS or police and 194, including five sexual offences, were dropped due to a conflict in prosecution evidence.
The CPS could not calculate the total cost of dropped prosecutions.
Successful prosecutions increased slightly from 83.2% to 83.5%.