5 September 2013
Court
failings scupper 500 cases a week
A
total of 106,859 were dropped or delayed last year, costing £17m figures show
More than 500 court cases
are being thrown out or delayed each week due to failings by prosecutors or in
the court system, it has been claimed.
Government figures have
shown that in total 106,859 cases before crown and magistrates’ courts were
dropped or delayed in 2012, costing an estimated £17.4m.
Tony Arbour, Conservative
London Assembly Member, said that 30,155 cases were delayed or thrown out
because of court or prosecution failings, around 580 per week.
He said in a new report:
“In general, the court system is chaotic and even the basics are not in place
which often means cases cannot go ahead.
“Trials fall apart because
witnesses are not told when to turn up, the Crown Prosecution Service fails to
receive police evidence, or barristers fail to call witnesses who are waiting
in court into the witness box.
“Witnesses and victims can
often be vulnerable, chaotic and disorganised. Often, they don’t want to attend
court and just want to get on with their lives. Yet the court system does more
to discourage these people from coming forward rather than encouraging them.”
The delayed cases in 2012
included 3,091 that were put back because the prosecution was not ready and
5,159 that were put back because of absent prosecution witnesses, the report
said. There were also 642 that were delayed because no interpreter was
available, and another 224 were hit by failures in courtroom equipment.
Dropped cases included
10,025 that were stopped because of insufficient prosecution evidence, and
9,867 where a prosecution witness was absent or withdrawn.
Referring to the estimated
financial cost, Mr Arbour added: “These enormous sums mask the even greater
emotional cost to victims and witnesses, who may become so disillusioned with
the courts that they will not use the justice system again, and, worse still
not even bother to report crime.
“Only by getting the basics
right will the CPS reduce the number of dropped and delayed cases and bring
villains to justice effectively. Witnesses and victims need to know the exact
time, day and place to attend, prosecution barristers should be able to see
case papers in advance, not at 9am for a 10am start, and the CPS, police and
prosecution barristers should directly communicate before the trial to make
sure it is ready.”
In total 19,703 crown court
cases out of 38,432 were dropped or delayed in 2012, and 87,156 out of a total
of 156,671 in magistrates’ courts.
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