More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Defendants in Kent are now being told they will have to wait up to 18 months before their cases can be heard by a jury.
That's a staggering increase on waiting times as just 10 years-ago trials were happening within weeks of first hearings.
Watch: Kent barrister calls for pop-up court rooms
This startling delay was played out this week by a defendant in the dock at Maidstone Crown Court.
He had pressed his ear to the perspex partition as the judge and his barrister discussed his future trial. He had nodded along as the lawyers noted several dates leading up to the trial, during his Plea and Trial Preparation hearing.
And then the judge told him his trial was now set for April...2022.
The defendant tried to take in the date, took a deep breath and then exclaimed: "What?"
This is now the reality for defendants who are on bail, they will have to wait until the year after next before a jury will hear their case.
The backlog of cases in crown courts in England and Wales is thought to be more than 50,000.
By the end of May, there were more than 40,500 unheard cases waiting to be dealt with.
That was a rise from 37,434 on December 31, according to figures released by the Criminal Bar Association.
Priority is given to the hundreds remanded to prisons where some are locked up for up to 23 and-a-half hours each day.
Priority is also given to highly sensitive sex trials involving young and vulnerable witnesses.
Cases are also taking longer to make their way through the system, with an average of 511 days from “offence to completion” in 2019, up from 391 days in 2010.
And waiting times are expected to keep on growing as the effects of Covid continue to bite.
One senior barrister said: "Maidstone's Resident Judge, Judge Griffith-Jones, together with his colleagues and the court staff, have done a great job.
"They have been able to set up a workable system to allow trials to take place and as a result of their initiative, we’re a great deal better here than a number of other places."
Other courts - like Snaresbrook, despite having bigger grounds and a number of separate buildings and a large central building, have been unable to hold more than a handful of trials.
The lawyer added: "Judges, court staff, the Bar and solicitor-advocates - are all pulling together to make things work; not from self-interest but to ensure the system carries on."
Trials now take longer now because of the need for social distancing when jurors are arriving at court and during selection.
Additionally, all papers have to be at court no less than 72 hours before a trial and no additional papers can be given to the jurors during a trial.
The barrister added: "These restrictions mean that everything has to be in order well in advance. "
Now Public Health England are introducing new rules where there will be more screens between judges and clerks, around the witness box and sections of seats where the public normally sit will be taped off.
