There’s been a huge increase in the number of cases waiting to be heard in our crown courts, it has emerged.

Latest figures, covering July to September 2024, show a 269% increase in backlogs of Kent cases compared to 2019.

Some 3,261 crown court cases are waiting to be heard in Kent. At Maidstone Crown Court, there are 2,367 outstanding cases while at Canterbury there are 894.

Today, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (KPCC) Matthew Scott told KentOnline the backlog was a “real problem” which was stopping victims of crime moving on with their lives.

He said: “I’ve been calling for action on this for a number of years now. We’ve had since the pandemic more than double the regular backlog in our crown courts and my concern is the victims aren’t getting their day in court and the defendants are waiting around for their trials as well.

“It’s not fair on victims, it puts pressure on witnesses, and despite everything that the system is doing in order to alleviate the problems we don’t seem to be making much progress.”

As a result of the delays, Mr Scott said a “small number” of people have been dropping cases because of the wait but said it was key he continued to “retain victim confidence”.

He added: “We’ve put extra resources into our victim or witness care team in Kent Police to make sure we have more people around to manage those cases, the expectations and the communications.”

Despite this, he added: “We’ve got cases which are being listed well into 2026 now which is a real problem for victims of crime who want to be able to move on with their lives.”

The figures released from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are the latest set of data, for quarter three, and have been compared with the same quarter from 2019.

In the same period in 2019, Canterbury Crown Court had 328 outstanding cases while Maidstone had 555.

Talking of the delays, Mr Scott said it was also not fair on defendants who “deserve their day in court” adding: “We need to make sure the system is working for everybody.”

Back in July, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (KPCC) shared a report which showed the caseloads at crown and magistrates’ courts are running 164% higher than four years ago.

Meanwhile in the civil courts, data released in March showed that some claimants in the county have endured waits of nearly three years for a resolution to their issue.

In response to the rising crown court caseload, Sir Brian Leveson has been appointed to carry out an independent review into the criminal courts.

Mr Scott told KentOnline he welcomed the news but acknowledged that “reviews take time”.

He said: “The biggest challenge we’ve not be able to solve is we haven’t got enough judges and in some cases it’s just as simple as that.”