'Crisis' as South Yorkshire's crown court backlog reaches eight-year high

New figures from the Ministry of Justice show there were 1,826 open cases waiting to be heard by crown courts in South Yorkshire as of the end of September.

This has more than doubled since September 2019, before the Covid pandemic, when there were 779 cases.

It is also the largest backlog since 2016, when current records began.

Meanwhile, the number of cases waiting to be heard across England and Wales has nearly doubled.

Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said the figure represented a ‘failure of our justice system’ which ‘cannot go on,’ adding: "Change must come”.

Nationally, the backlog stood at 73,105 cases at the end of September, a 10 per cent rise on the previous year and nearly double since September 2019, when there were 35,310 cases outstanding.

Prosecutors have warned victims are facing waiting times of between two and five years before a case goes to trial, with court listings now running into 2027.

Newly appointed justice minister Sarah Sackman told reporters it had become "apparent" there was "nothing short of a crisis in the crown court system" in the eight days she had been in-post.

"The crown court caseload is at record levels, those levels are rising and if we don’t do anything about it, we’ll soon be in the territory of a caseload backlog of six figures," she warned.

Measures already taken are "barely touching the sides and what’s actually needed is fundamental reform," she said, adding: "We’ve asked Sir Brian to consider all options."

The director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson recently described delays faced by victims as ‘totally unacceptable’ and said the wait times in the criminal justice system are ‘probably worse than I’ve ever known them to be’.

The figures show 5,660 cases have been waiting for two years or more at the end of September while just 592 were waiting this long at the end of December 2019.

Snaresbrook Crown Court in London had the largest share of the backlog (3,442) followed by Manchester Minshull Street (2,378) and Maidstone in Kent (2,367).

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The latest figures prompted the Government to announce it has drafted in retired judge Sir Brian Leveson to carry out a major review of the courts system.

In South Yorkshire there were 327 sexual offences cases waiting to be heard, as well as 144 theft offence cases and 584 for violence against the person.

Ministers have suggested that scrapping jury trials in some cases could be among measures considered to cut the backlog.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the "scale of the crown court crisis inherited by this Government is unprecedented".

She continued: "Despite the efforts of judges, lawyers and court staff, we simply cannot continue with the status quo."