RAPE victims are waiting four years for cases to go to court due to huge delays in the legal system.
Some 163 cases heard from October to December last year took an average of 1,556 days from the date of the offence.
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It comes as a shock all-time low of just 1.3 per cent of the 63,136 reported rapes led to charges being brought in the year up to September 2021.
Britain currently has a backlog of 60,000 criminal cases waiting to be heard at crown court and an estimated 500,000 at magistrates. And campaigners say rape victims are waiting longer than any others.
Rebecca Hitchen, of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “These figures are shocking — but unsurprising.
“Rape prosecutions have collapsed in recent years to the extent that rape has been effectively decriminalised. While reported rapes reached an all-time high, charging, prosecution and convictions plummeted.”
Dozens of criminal trials each week are aborted at the last minute because of a shortage of barristers and judges.
Jo Sidhu, of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “It seems ministers at the wheel of the criminal justice system have taken their cue from the captain of the Titanic.”
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The Government said it will spend £1billion to boost trials.
- Jodie Comer, who plays a rape lawyer in stage show Prima Facie said: “It needs to be more about the victim.”
