Criminal cases collapsed due to missing evidence

MORE than 400 criminal cases in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland, including some of the most serious offences, collapsed over the past four years due to lost, damaged or missing evidence.

- SOPHIE DOUGHTY

Between October 2022 and September 2024 more than 2% of cases passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by Northumbria Police fell through for this reason.

These included 15 sexual offences and one case, which The Journal understands to relate to a conspiracy to murder investigation.

And across England and Wales more than 30,000 cases, including 70 murders and more than 550 sexual offences fell through.

The figures have been obtained following a BBC investigation, which found that the problem has been growing, with a higher proportion of cases failing to result in a conviction because of lost or missing evidence each year since 2020.

Experts told the BBC that the closure of the Forensic Science Service in 2012 had contributed to the increase, along with the growth in digital evidence and increasing demands on storage space, strained police budgets and an influx of inexperienced police recruits.