New trials won't start until late 2027 amid courts crisis

Lawyers have warned of the "implosion" of the criminal justice system, as they revealed that some trials are now being scheduled as far away as September 2027.

- ANDY GREGORY

The Independent has been told of numerous trials involving bailed defendants accused of serious sexual and violent crimes not due to start for well over two years - even before facing any of the last-minute delays frequently blighting the crown courts, often setting trials back further by months and leaving victims waiting for justice.

Experts warned that trials involving suspects who have been refused bail are frequently being scheduled for late 2025, far beyond the intended six-month remand period, serving to fuel the overcrowding crisis in prisons - where the population of such inmates is at a record high.

Warning that one of his clients was last month given a trial date in April 2027, leading criminal barrister Maximillian Hardy said: "The courts have become a hoarder's house and you can't even get over the threshold any more. This is not justice delayed: it's justice drowned."

While a data error has prevented the government from publishing statistics on the crown courts' performance for the past six months, experts say the number of trials backlogged in the system is now likely at a record high, in excess of 70,000 cases - up from fewer than 33,000 in 2019.

With trials often subject to further last-minute delays after being scheduled, figures previously obtained by this publication suggested the number of cases waiting more than three years for a verdict had soared at least sevenfold since 2019 to exceed 1,280 last June.