Justice fears over court backlogs

Ministry of Justice data shows Newcastle Crown Court was facing a backlog of 1,598 cases at the end of June – a decrease from 1,658 at the end of March, and 1,786 at the same point in 2021.

Despite this decline, uncompleted case numbers are ​28% higher than they were prior to the pandemic.

Of the outstanding cases, 407 (25%) related to alleged violent attacks and 238 (15%) were for sex offences, including 47 alleged rapes.

The figures show that, in England and Wales, 59,700 cases were yet to be concluded at the end of June – a rise of nearly three-quarters compared to June 2019, when there were 34,500.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: “Long waits for trial cause immense stress and misery for victims.

"Sadly, wait times are only part of the problem. Many people are already waiting years from reporting a crime to their case reaching the courts.”

Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society, said the national backlog has left victims and defendants facing "unacceptable delays".

She added: “The criminal justice system has been devastated by years of underfunding and trust in the system is in real jeopardy. The Government is falling to address the crisis.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Restoring the swift access to justice victims deserve is our absolute priority and we are spending almost half a billion pounds to reduce wait times, as well as boosting funding for victim support to £460m over the next three years.”