Sadiq Khan urges ministers to address ‘severe’ court backlog and lack of therapy for rape victims

Exclusive: ‘Agonising waits for court and last-minute changes are causing untold damage to victims’ mental health,’ warns London mayor

In an open letter addressed to Mr Raab, Mr Khan warned the justice system was ‘in crisis from end-to-end’ – with these issues exerting growing pressure on support services (PA Wire)

London’s mayor has demanded the government urgently address the “severe” court backlog as he warned that services to help rape and sexual assault victims were “stretched to breaking point”.

Sadiq Khan urged the justice secretary, Dominic Raab, to introduce measures to address the court backlog and help overcapacitated services that provide sexual violence survivors with therapy and other help.

In an open letter addressed to Mr Raab, shared exclusively with The Independent, Mr Khan warned that the justice system was “in crisis from end to end” – with these issues exerting growing pressure on support services.

The capital’s mayor noted at the end of March that there were almost 16,000 outstanding cases in London’s crown courts and almost 73,000 in magistrates’ courts, adding that victims in London were being forced to wait for up to five years to be given court dates.

Mr Khan warned that the combination of delays and the fact that sexual offences had surged by 35 per cent in the last year was pushing crippled support services into “an impossible position” because there had been a rise in the number of people seeking help, while victims needed support for more protracted lengths of time.

In his letter, Mr Khan explained that the Criminal Bar Association’s “ongoing strike action” was compounding the situation, and he warned that “victims are also regularly finding out at the last moment that their case is not going ahead, with cases relisted for many months in the future”.

The mayor added: “These agonising waits for court and last-minute changes are causing untold damage to victims’ mental health and increase the likelihood of them withdrawing from the system altogether”.

He noted the London Survivors Gateway had stopped taking in new referrals for the interim period, while some London Rape Crisis Centres had been too overstretched to add any more victims to their waiting lists for counselling.

The mayor warned: “I cannot overstate the impact this is having on victims and survivors of rape and sexual assault, exacerbating existing trauma and leaving vulnerable people feeling isolated.”

Mr Khan, who has been mayor since 2016, said he was “hugely concerned about the impact that the crisis in our justice system is having on survivors of rape and sexual offences in our city”.

The Labour mayor said they were “doing all we can from City Hall” but there was an urgent need for ministers to “take steps to tackle the court backlog and ensure that support services are able to help Londoners in their time of need”.

Rape still has the lowest charging levels of all types of crime. Home Office data shows that only 1.3 per cent of 67,125 rape offences recorded by police in 2021 resulted in a prosecution.

In his letter, Mr Khan argued that “funding and resources should be made available for a dedicated Nightingale court focused on clearing the most vulnerable and longest-standing cases” as he noted that he had presided over more than £100m in investment in trying to address violence against women and girls.

London’s independent Victims Commissioner, Claire Waxman, said: “The criminal justice system has been chronically underfunded for more than a decade and it’s now struggling to deliver justice.

“Victims are already having to wait years for their day in court, and now they are having difficulties accessing vital support services. I’m deeply concerned for the wellbeing and welfare of victims and it’s vital that swift action is taken to ensure they are supported.”

Data from the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales show that almost 195,000 sexual offences were recorded by the police in the year ending March 2022. This was the highest figure on record and a 32 per cent rise on the year before.

In London, police recorded more than 25,000 sexual offences, which constituted a rise of 35 per cent on the previous year. Some 9,245 of these reports were for rape, a 24 per cent jump on the year before.

But campaigners have previously told The Independent that rising numbers of sexual offices might be a reflection of more women being willing to come forward to report crimes to the police instead of being a by-product of a rise in the amount of sexual offences being perpetrated.

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “We are seeing a growth in what was already an unacceptable backlog in the courts, meaning rape survivors commonly wait years for their cases to get to trial. But problems in the criminal justice system are not confined to court delays. Rape prosecution rates remain at some of the lowest ever levels, and survivors describe being harmed by a system that treats them like the one under investigation.

“No rape survivor should have to be turned away when they seek help and no rape survivor should have to wait five years for the person who harmed them to face trial.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Rape convictions are up by more than a quarter on pre-pandemic levels and we are starting to bring down the crown court backlog, which fell from 60,600 last year to 58,300 this year.

“But we are restless to go further. So we are recruiting more sexual violence independent advisers for victims, piloting enhanced specialist sexual violence support at three crown courts including Snaresbrook and investing £477 million to deliver speedier justice for victims.”