Court backlogs for rape and sex offences hit record high

Court backlogs for rape and sexual offences have hit a record high, with the most desperate victims driven to suicide by "devastating" waits for justice.

- MAYA OPPENHEIM

The logjam of cases in the crown courts surged to 7,859 sexual offence cases and 1,851 adult rape cases by September 2022, according to the latest Ministry of Justice data.

The stark figures coincide with a scathing report on the Metropolitan Police, which found that officers had failed to protect women. The report detailed how rape cases were dropped because DNA evidence was ruined when it was stored in "over-stuffed, dilapidated or broken fridges and freezers" used by the Met.

The Baroness Casey Review, released last week, concluded that Britain's largest police force is institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic. It found that a "culture of denial" had allowed predators to flourish, and that officers had used their position of power for sexual purposes.

Data on delayed rape trials, obtained via freedom of information requests, revealed that the number of cases put back had more than doubled, from 658 in 2019-2020 to 1,513 in 2021-2022. The number of trials delayed three or more times almost doubled in the same period - rising from 95 to 188 - while 26 trials had been rearranged on six or more occasions.