Sexual offence victims face longest-ever court waits

Recent cases involving serious sexual offences have taken the longest time on record to go through Crown Courts in England and Wales, the BBC has found.

Exclusive data compiled by the BBC found such cases took an average of nine months to complete in 2021, with huge variations between regions.

Criminal barristers say the delays are due to funding cuts and a decision to reduce how many days judges could sit.

But Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said they were caused by the pandemic.

A rape victim whose case took two years to conclude said: "I don't even have the words to explain how awful it has been."

The data from July to September 2021 reveals:

The case length is considered to be the time from the first Crown Court hearing to the sentencing or end of a case.

Separate national figures suggest the average case length for serious sexual offences has since risen to 270 days for October to December 2021.

In the same time period, case lengths for robbery offences averaged 225 days (about seven months), while violence against the person was 206 days (about 6.5 months).

Data about the Crown Courts - published here after BBC Freedom of Information requests - comes amid growing concerns about backlogs across courts and industrial action by barristers.

Campaigners say the problems could result in victims dropping their cases.

Over the past four years, rape prosecutions in England and Wales have fallen by 70%.

Lisa, not her real name, was raped by someone she knew in 2017.

She went to the police with compelling evidence about the the attack and felt confident that he would soon be in court.

"But it didn't happen in that way," she said.

The Crown Prosecution Service eventually authorised the police to charge the suspect in the summer of 2019 - two years later.

But because of backlogs, the earliest trial date available was April 2020. The closure of courts by the pandemic meant the case was put back again until 2021. The attacker was not convicted and jailed until late summer 2021.

"I think if I hadn't reported it, I would have brought my mental health round a lot quicker than by extending the ordeal by having the additional impacts of the court system," Lisa said.

And despite seeing justice, she said she had been left with no confidence in the system.

"God forbid it ever happened again, or to any of my family, but I wouldn't promote going through the system and even reporting a crime of this nature anymore."

The latest available data shows the Crown Court backlog last December was 58,818 - down from a record of 61,000 cases earlier in 2021.

The overall average time it now takes for all types of cases to go from a report to the police to completion in court is 697 days, just below the record of 708 days set last summer.

This online tool reveals the average delays being seen court-by-court for serious sexual offences.

Inner London Crown Court and Harrow ranked highest in terms of having consistently long case lengths since the coronavirus pandemic began, as opposed to just the latest quarter.

Outside of London, St Albans, Bournemouth and Bradford saw longer cases than other areas most often.

Criminal barristers say the current delays are the result of budgets cuts, a decision to reduce how many days judges could sit and criminal barristers leaving for other branches of law.

Figures from last week reveal there has been a 10% fall in the number of criminal barristers in the last year alone.

"We simply do not have sufficient numbers of judges, prosecutors, and defenders to deal with the backlog," says Jo Sidhu QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA).

"The government has launched a recruitment drive for more judges, knowing full well that it won't be able to meet the target as these judges are in very large part drawn from the same diminishing pool of criminal barristers who are leaving in droves."

The CBA says people are leaving for other branches of law because they can no longer make a living from cases that have to be funded through legal aid - the system that ensures that every defendant has professional representation to guarantee a fair trial.

On Monday, the CBA's members began industrial action over the legal aid rates, saying the government is dragging its feet in implementing an independent review's recommendation for a 15% increase in funding.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has warned barristers that their action will not solve the criminal justice delays they complain about - and that he will implement the increase in legal aid, and other reforms, following a legally-required consultation.

The government has committed to keep operating some temporary courts that it set up to help manage the backlogs caused by the pandemic.

It has also introduced a system to allow more sexual offences victims to give their evidence in advance by video and is planning to move the sentencing of some lesser cases into magistrates' courts to ease the burden on judges.

"I know that it's very difficult for anyone that's been a victim of rape or serious sexual violence," Mr Raab said. "You recover from the original crime - and then you've got to muster the courage to go through the [courts] process. I'm absolutely committed to making sure those victims have the support at every step of the way."

But despite long delays across all crimes, some victims still say they are willing to go through the court system.

Sophia Chandler, who is blind, waited five years for a thief to face justice. She told police in Northamptonshire in 2017 that an assistant had been stealing from her home.

The case was originally slated for trial in September 2020 - but it was then put off, relisted for September 2021 and then put off until January this year.

When the opening day of the trial came, the defendant had disappeared. She was convicted in her absence, eventually tracked down, and given an 18-week jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.

"The more it was delayed, the more she was feeling invincible - nobody could touch her," says Mrs Chandler.

"I was afraid to walk out. And I was afraid in case she approached me, or tried to harm me or even harm my guide dog."

Mrs Chandler says she is now relieved it's over.

"It took a long, long, long time," she says. "I know that if it were to happen again, I would still go to the police and persevere. Otherwise there will be no justice."

If you have been affected by any of these issues in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.

Data journalism by Rob England and Libby Rogers