Data from the Ministry of Justice shows 1,379 adult rape cases were stuck in the court backlog in the last quarter of 2021 but the number surged to 2,786 in the last quarter of 2023.
A victim support charity warned that court delays mean rape victims are being made “to live indefinitely” with “uncertainty and anguish”. The number of adult rape cases stuck in the logjam has increased by almost five times in just over half a decade – up from 568 cases in the first quarter of 2019.
Experts blamed the court backlog on a “chronic” shortage of lawyers specialising in serious sexual offences, as well as issues dating back to the Covid pandemic. They warned rape victims are being informed their case has been postponed at the eleventh hour – sometimes arriving at court only to be turned away.
Government data shows almost two in 10 adult rape cases were rearranged on the day of the trial between October and December last year. The number of rape and serious sexual offences trials adjourned because of a lack of prosecution or defence barrister has surged more than tenfold since 2019.
This story is from the June 03, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the June 03, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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