Crown court backlog more than doubles in five years in Thames Valley

Meanwhile, the number of cases waiting to be heard across England and Wales has nearly doubled.

Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said the figure represented a "failure of our justice system" which "cannot go on", adding: "Change must come".

New figures from the Ministry of Justice show there were 2,525 open cases waiting to be heard by crown courts in Thames Valley as of the end of September.

This has more than doubled since September 2019, before the Covid pandemic, when there were 1,103 cases.

Nationally, the backlog stood at 73,105 cases at the end of September, a 10% rise on the previous year and nearly double since September 2019, when there were 35,310 cases outstanding.

Prosecutors have warned victims are facing waiting times of between two and five years before a case goes to trial, with court listings now running into 2027.

The director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson recently described delays faced by victims as "totally unacceptable" and said the wait times in the criminal justice system are "probably worse than I’ve ever known them to be".

The figures show 5,660 cases have been waiting for two years or more at the end of September while just 592 were waiting this long at the end of December 2019.

Snaresbrook Crown Court in London had the largest share of the backlog (3,442) followed by Manchester Minshull Street (2,378) and Maidstone in Kent (2,367).

The latest figures prompted the Government to announce it has drafted in retired judge Sir Brian Leveson to carry out a major review of the courts system.

Newly appointed justice minister Sarah Sackman told reporters it had become "apparent" there was "nothing short of a crisis in the crown court system" in the eight days she had been in-post.

"The crown court caseload is at record levels, those levels are rising and if we don’t do anything about it, we’ll soon be in the territory of a caseload backlog of six figures," she warned.

Measures already taken are "barely touching the sides and what’s actually needed is fundamental reform," she said, adding: "We’ve asked Sir Brian to consider all options."

In Thames Valley there were 377 sexual offences cases waiting to be heard, as well as 186 theft offence cases and 762 for violence against the person.

Ministers have suggested that scrapping jury trials in some cases could be among measures considered to cut the backlog.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the "scale of the crown court crisis inherited by this Government is unprecedented".

She added: "Despite the efforts of judges, lawyers and court staff, we simply cannot continue with the status quo."