Sexual offence cases at Ipswich Crown Court face second longest delays in England and Wales

Recent sexual offence cases took an average of 13 months to conclude at Ipswich Crown Court, according to new figures.

The data from the Ministry of Justice, compiled by the BBC, found that the average number of days between a sexual offence case opening and concluding at the court between July and September last year was 414.

That meant the Suffolk court recorded the second longest average time in England and Wales, behind only Leicester at 453 days.

In a report from the Committee of Public Accounts published in March, officials said 'victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound and extend their suffering and lead to too many cases collapsing'.

The committee recommended that the Ministry of Justice should set out its plan to assess the impact of its measures to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences, and its progress on recruiting independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs).

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the delays to the court systems were caused by the pandemic.

He added: "I know that it's very difficult for anyone that's been a victim of rape or serious sexual violence.

"You recover from the original crime - and then you've got to muster the courage to go through the [courts] process.

"I'm absolutely committed to making sure those victims have the support at every step of the way."

It comes as the Ministry of Justice announced last week that courts will continue working at full capacity to 'speed up justice' as the cap on sitting days is lifted for a second year.

"The investment means more trials can take place, delivering swift justice for victims and reducing the backlog of cases which rose significantly due to the pandemic," the government said in its announcement.

They said the same decision last year meant that almost 17,000 more days were sat in Crown Court than the year prior to the pandemic.

And they added that the number of outstanding cases in crown courts has fallen by around 2,500 since its peak in June 2021.

However, the Criminal Bar Association's chair Jo Sidhu said: "We simply do not have sufficient numbers of judges, prosecutors, and defenders to deal with the backlog."

In a post on the association's website, Mr Sidhu said there had been an 'exodus' of colleagues by the end of 2021 which had resulted in a '50-fold increase in the number of serious trials that had to be adjourned due to the absence of an available advocate'.

The backlog of cases remained at 58,450 by the end of February, he added.

"If Government does not act now, no one can be in any doubt that our enfeebled Criminal Justice System will soon reach permanent gridlock," Mr Sidhu said.