Pain of justice delayed

THE Mail makes no judgment on the domestic violence case against Ryan Giggs, which ended with a hung jury last week.

But having already spent many months preparing for trial and going through a gruelling four-week court case, having to wait another 11 months for a retrial places unfair and unbearable stress on both alleged perpetrator and alleged victims.

It is symptomatic of the deep malaise currently afflicting our criminal justice system, which has a backlog of some 60,000 cases and is exacerbated by an indefinite barristers’ strike over pay.

This is a huge problem for incoming Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis to solve. But he must find a way. If victims have to wait years for their case to be heard, many will simply give up.

Faith in justice would then collapse and the Tories’ reputation as the party of law and order would be shattered for good.