Court waits cause ‘injustice’ as victims forget the facts

A QUARTER of victims have been waiting more than a year to see their offender put on trial, MPS have disclosed, warning delays could lead to them struggling to recall the crime.

The all-party Justice Committee warned increasing court waits were leading to more victims dropping out of cases or struggling to recall the incident, resulting in fewer convictions of suspects and “significant injustice”.

MPS urged ministers to set targets for the time victims could expect to wait to see their attacker brought to justice.

They said the current delays were “very concerning”, with 14,612 cases outstanding for a year or more in December last year. This made up 25 per cent of the total backlog, up from 19 per cent in the same period in 2020.

Ministers said the current average wait, from offence to trial conclusion, was 275 days for all offences and almost two years – 620 days – for sex offences.

In the report published today, the MPS said: “The longer it takes for a case to come to court, the more difficult it becomes to recollect the key facts.

“There was also considerable concern that witnesses and victims were becoming more likely to withdraw from cases. This itself leads to cases collapsing or cracking, adding to inefficiencies that negatively affect court capacity.”

Drop out rates were highest in “the most intimate and serious offences” such as domestic abuse cases, where the proportion of victims withdrawing support for prosecution had risen from 35 per cent in 2016, to 53 per cent.

The MPS said: “The current situation on timeliness in the Crown Court is causing significant injustice.

“The pandemic has made the situation worse, but the factors responsible for increased delays over the past decade are deep-rooted.”

The committee welcomed the Government’s new scorecards showing prosecution rates and court waits but said it should also set targets “to improve timeliness across the criminal justice system”.