Backlog of cases at Sheffield Crown Court grows - with 33 rape cases among those waiting to be heard

Ministry of Justice data shows there were 1,270 outstanding cases at Sheffield Crown Court at the end of June. That was up from 1,238 at the end of March, and 1,123 at the same point in 2021. Uncompleted case numbers are 78 per cent higher than they were prior to the coronavirus pandemic – in June 2019, there were 715 cases outstanding at Sheffield Crown Court.

Of the cases outstanding at the end of June, 374 (29 per cent) related to alleged violent attacks and 167 (13 per cent) were for sex offences, including 33 alleged rapes.

The Law Society of England and Wales has warned trust in the criminal justice system is in ‘jeopardy’ with victims of even the most serious crimes facing long waits to get their case before a court.

Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society, which represents solicitors, said the national backlog of criminal court cases has left victims and defendants facing ‘unacceptable delays’.

“The criminal justice system has been devastated by years of underfunding and cuts and there are not enough judges, barristers and solicitors to cover all the cases. Trust in the system is in real jeopardy and a system collapse would embolden criminals.The UK Government is falling way short of addressing the crisis in the criminal justice system. You cannot fix the problems in the system unless you fund all parts of it effectively,” she said.

The latest figures come as criminal barristers voted to end long-running strike action, following a new pay offer from the Government. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) confirmed total of 57 per cent of barristers voted to accept a 15 per cent pay rise.

Across England and Wales, 59,700 cases were yet to be concluded at the end of June – up 2 per cent from March, and a rise of nearly three-quarters compared to June 2019, when 34,500 were outstanding.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: “Long waits for trial cause immense stress and misery for victims. Sadly, wait times for court are only part of the problem – many people have already waited years from reporting the crime to the police to their case reaching the courts. This a particular problem for victims of sexual violence – our case workers are supporting victims who have been waiting upwards of five years to have their cases heard.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Restoring the swift access to justice victims deserve is our absolute priority and we are spending almost half a billion pounds to reduce wait times, as well as boosting funding for victim support to £460 million over the next three years. On top of this, the Government has deployed a range of measures – including unlimited sitting days, Nightingale courts and increasing magistrate sentencing powers – that has so far reduced the backlog in the Crown Court by over 2,000 from its pandemic-induced peak and seen magistrates cases return to pre-pandemic levels.”