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Some victims face wait until 2023 for justice amid court case backlogs, claim lawyers

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Some victims of crime face having to wait until 2023 for justice due to court backlogs, it has emerged.

Lawyers said trials were already being scheduled for 2022 and the start of 2023 amid a backlog of crown court cases that has grown from 33,000 last year to 46,000 since hearings were suspended during the coronavirus lockdown.

It came as Max Hill, head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), revealed that its load of “live” cases had risen from 100,000 in February to 179,000 since the pandemic began.

He warned it would take “many months” to tackle and urged people to “please keep faith as the system tries to catch up.”

There is a backlog of nearly 500,000 magistrates court cases although many of these are lower-level motoring offences.

Emma Fenn, a barrister specialising in criminal work, cited one case of a 25-year-old, charged with supply of cannabis, who had already spent three months in prison - a length in custody longer than any sentence he is likely to receive after trial. That is now scheduled for March 7 2022.

“That’s by no means the worst. I have colleagues reporting trials going into September 2022,” said Ms Fenn. “We are seeing cases now that are taking four to five years from offence to going to trial.”

Other cases included a 35 year old first time offender with Asperger’s and autism who has still not been tried despite the allegation dating back to March 2016 - and whose trial was this week put off for months.

Claire Waxman, the victims’ commissioner for London, revealed this week that a rape case, already delayed before Covid, won’t get started until next June - 4 years after the allegation. She says it comes down to an absence of Perspex screens in court.

While the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) revealed it had been told by court officials of some centres listing cases for 2023. “How is that justice for either complainants or defendants,” said James Mulholland, CBA vice chair.

Justice Minister Chris Philp said: “We have kept justice moving despite the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. We are now starting to see the results of those efforts and overall outstanding Magistrates’ cases are falling and jury trials are increasing.

“More needs to be done and we are investing an additional £80m in our courts, will employ 1,600 new staff to support the recovery, set up more Nightingale courts and roll out further technology across the estate.”