Alleged child sex abuse victim is forced to wait four years for trial

A victim of alleged child sex abuse has compared her experience of the plodding legal system to the ‘trauma’ of the attacks after her case was delayed by four years.

The trial was originally due to take place in 2022 but was adjourned to 2023 and then to this year, each time with just a few days’ notice.

The case was finally due to start today but was again shelved because of the scarcity of court space, the lack of a judge and a dearth of barristers.

The woman, who is in her 30s, has now been told the case at Ipswich Crown Court in Suffolk will not take place until 2026.

Furious at the delays, she said: ‘Being a victim of childhood sexual violence comes with its own trauma but the court process feels like another trauma in itself.’

The woman – who insisted she would see the process through to the end despite the problems - also revealed the mental anguish she has suffered as a result. 

‘After the delay in 2023, I fell hard and so this year I decided to seek our therapy to help before the trial in 2024,’ she said.

‘When I started therapy, my depression and anxiety scales were moderate. These, in time, improved to become mild but once the trial was put off for a third time, these became severe.

‘The impact of these delays has been unimaginable on both my mental and physical health. Being a victim of sexual violence, you have had control taken away from you and the court process feels like it mirrors this.

‘You use all of your energy building yourself up, preparing for trial, only to get totally knocked and it feels like you fall down lower and it is harder to come back up.’

Pressures on the legal system, exacerbated by a huge backlog created during the Covid-19 lockdowns, led to the crown court open caseload reaching a record 67,573 cases in August – 16,031 of which had been outstanding for a year or more.

By last week this had soared to 71,000, prompting the chief inspector of the watchdog which monitors the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service to warn it could spiral to 100,000.

Anthony Rogers said victims were being let down ‘every day’ as the backlog rises, with up to one in three pulling out of trials.

Mr Rogers added it was time to stop ‘tinkering’ around the edges of the criminal justice system and consider ‘fundamental’ reforms such as judge-only trials and magistrates handling more cases instead of crown courts.

Prosecutors are handling nearly 200 cases in some instances and there were 17,662 suspects on remand in prisons awaiting trial or sentence at the end of September, accounting for 20 per cent of the prison population in England and Wales.

Barristers have also revealed criminals are increasingly refusing to plead guilty in the hope their cases will collapse due to delays.

The proportion of defendants admitting their offence at the first court appearance has plummeted from 85 per cent ten years ago to 36 per cent now.

Victims’ Commissioner Baroness Newlove recently warned: ‘These are systemic issues and it is causing victims real and undue distress.’

Trials at Ipswich Crown Court where the defendant is on bail are facing 19-month delays at present, with cases being listed for May 2026.

Attempts to reduce the backlog have included judges hearing cases at Colchester Magistrates Court and west Suffolk cases being transferred to Cambridge Crown Court.

Rachel Almeida, assistant director of Victim Support, said: ‘Long waits for trial are causing considerable stress and anxiety for victims in Suffolk and across the country.

‘Many tell us that they feel like their life is on hold and that they find it hard to move on while they are awaiting justice.

‘We are calling on the government to tackle these delays as a matter of urgency and get waiting times under control. Victims deserve nothing less.’

Ginny Ryan of Brave Futures, a support service for children and young people who have suffered sexual abuse, added: ‘The sad reality is that so few child sexual abuse cases make it to court but, for those that do, the long wait for a hearing can cause immense distress and anxiety for the child.

‘These delays mean that children often live in constant fear of encountering their perpetrator and face the uncertainty of not knowing what the outcome will be.

‘When court dates are postponed, it’s especially devastating for a child who has been preparing themselves emotionally for the trial.

‘These setbacks can lead to children losing trust in the system and the professionals supporting them and risking disengagement from the services they so desperately need.’

The Department of Justice was contacted for a comment.