Judges will sit for 4,500 extra days to cut long wait for justice

JUDGES are to sit for thousands of extra days in an attempt by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to reduce court delays that have resulted in victims waiting up to three years for justice.

Robert Buckland, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, is to commit judges to an extra 4,500 sitting days for 2020-21 to counter delays in bringing criminals to trial, which The Daily Telegraph revealed had increased by more than a third in a decade.

An investigation last month by this newspaper also found restrictions on the number of sitting days meant that up to 40 per cent of crown courts were standing idle on any given day, even though there was a backlog of more than 30,000 crown court cases.

This weekend The Telegraph revealed that more than 40 per cent of victims of violent crime and rape pulled out of prosecutions last year, partly due to the delays.

Mr Buckland said he was allocating a minimum of 87,000 crown court sitting days for 2020-21, up from 82,000 last year. It is estimated it will cost at least £12million, based on a Law Society analysis.

An additional 850 sitting days were added for the rest of 2019-20.

“The Government is committed to ensuring justice is served in a timely fashion,” said Mr Buckland, who pointed to a 40 per cent reduction in the number of outstanding crown court cases since 2014.

The move reverses an MOJ decision last year to cut the number of days on which it would fund judges to sit by more than 15 per cent, from 97,400 to 82,300, because of a slump in cases.

Jonathan Dunne, a criminal barrister who has campaigned on delays, said: “It is not going to cure the problem completely but it is welcome news.”