TIPPING POINT: INSIDE BRITAIN'S BROKEN JUSTICE SYSTEM

Trials delayed until 2030, victims and defendants' lives on hold, buildings without running water. Our courts correspondent Tristan Kirk reports on a shameful decline

- Tristan Kirk

Standing in the dock, 18-year-old Oliver stared back at the judge in disbelief, eyes wide open. What made him visibly stunned that October afternoon was learning that his trial is not going to start until July 2029.

“Yes, I know,” said the judge across the courtroom at Isleworth crown court, matter-of-factly, well-accustomed to the chronic delays which are now a hallmark of our justice system. The court in west London is already routinely setting trials in late 2029, and before November is up it will open its 2030 calendar to find available court slots. It means that allegations of crimes made to police before the last general election will not be put before a jury until after Sir Keir Starmer’s first term as Prime Minister is over.

As London’s courts get ready to set trials in the next decade, it locks not just defendants but witnesses and victims into a justice process which will take years to come to a conclusion. It also means that growing numbers of cases are collapsing during the chronic delays, and those who do stay the course say it is a mental torment. What is truly bleak is that crimes go unreported by victims who don't believe they will ever get justice. To describe our criminal justice system as in crisis is now an understatement. In reality it is coming apart at the seams, a disaster that is years in the making. For victims, it means not giving evidence until the events of the crime may be a distant memory, and a lengthy wait for the accused to face punishment. The oft-repeated principle for defendants is “innocent until proven guilty”. But many now face years on bail, with court-ordered conditions that can amount to a punishment — curfews, orders to wear electronic tags, bans from contacting friends or even loved ones, and restrictions that could stop them from earning a living.