Starmer set to greenlight major reform of courts after murder trial backlog almost quadrupled under Tories

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Ministers are poised to pave the way for major criminal justice reform after new figures seen by The Independent revealed the dire state of the courts system.

Details of a major review are expected be unveiled by justice ministers tomorrow as they wrestle with average waiting times for trials which are at their longest for more than a decade. Among the catastrophic details revealed are:

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Already a review into sentencing is being carried out by Tory ex-justice secretary David Gauke, but further initiatives are set to be announced this week.

The figures have ballooned since the courts were in effect shutdown during the Covid lockdown but efforts by the previous government to reduce the backlog only saw it get worse.

The damning legacy left by the Tories will mean that there could be questions going forward on whether jury trials will continue for some offences and consideration on magistrate court powers.

The research came as the Labour government rejected Tory excuses for the Crown Court backlog rising to record levels on their watch.

The National Audit Office noted that “the Crown Court backlog started to increase in 2019”, whilst the Bar Council noted that the backlog was “too high before the COVID-19 pandemic, and then rose to crisis levels…there has been no significant progress in reducing the backlog since then”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “Under the last Government the Crown Court backlog rose to record high levels. The Tories kept victims of serious, violent crimes waiting for justice. Time and again we heard the Conservatives blame their record backlog on the pandemic but delays were rising before lockdown and continued afterwards.

“This Labour government is taking the tough decisions to deliver on our plan for change with safer streets. The Tories left prisons overflowing and a record number of cases languishing in the crown court backlog. Justice delayed is justice denied, and this government is committed to ensuring that victims see justice and criminals face the punishment they deserve.”

Labour pointed to figures highlighting that despite Conservative plans to reduce the court backlog by 7,000 places by March 2025, on their watch the backlog actually grew by more than 7,000 to a record high of 67,573 by December last year.

The average waiting time for rape trials was over four months longer than it was in 2014, whereas trials for GBH took nearly a whole year to come to court on average.

Research also shows that more trials for some of the most serious crimes were postponed and rescheduled last year, whilst the proportion of trials which are being delayed also increased.

Nearly 30 per cent of trials for violence against the person were postponed in 2023 – whilst 23 per cent of trials for sexual assault and 20 per cent of rape trials are postponed. 31 per cent of weapons possession trials were delayed last year.

The total number of delayed trials for these crimes has increased by 50 per cent since 2014.

For both rape and sexual assault, the number of trials which were postponed in 2023 was more than double the number in 2014. Last year there were over 570 rape trials and 725 sexual assault trials which were postponed, further delaying access to justice for victims of extremely serious crimes.

In her 2021/22 annual report, the Victim’s Commissioner noted that “court delays can exert tremendous tolls on victims. Many victims’ lives are effectively put on hold.”

She noted that victims dropping out of the system represented “a serious and fundamental challenge to the justice system itself” and “a denial of justice to the individuals involved.”

The court backlog currently stands at a record high of 67,573 – up 8 per cent on the previous year.