Criminal charges against more than 2,000 people in Kent were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last year.

In total, court cases involving 2,203 defendants collapsed between April 2014 and April this year, just over 12% of the total prosecutions.

The figures, obtained by the Kent Messenger under the Freedom of Information Act, show the main reasons for charges being dropped were victims refusing to give evidence or failing to attend court (499 cases), defendants entering pleas to other matters (378 cases) and conflicting prosecution evidence (369 cases).

Evidence not being presented in court accounted for 202 charges being dropped, while the police failing to provide files or come to court led to 37 failed prosecutions.

While full details of the cases could not be disclosed, just under a third of defendants had been charged with ‘offences against the person’, a category of crimes which includes serious and common assault, harassment, making threats to kill and possessing any weapon with intent to cause fear of violence.

In total 36 of the defendants had been charged with a sexual offence and 438 with theft or handling stolen goods.

Two were charged with homicide – a category which includes murder, attempted murder, causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult, child destruction, conspiring or soliciting to commit murder and causing death by dangerous or careless driving.

Other cases dropped included burglary (70), robbery (23), fraud and forgery (37), criminal damage (174), drug offences (66), public order (177) and motoring (220).

In the same period, four charges were dropped due to inadmissible evidence. The CPS could not go into further details but inadmissible evidence would include confessions given under duress.

It could also not provide the total cost of failed prosecutions or what stage of court proceedings charges were dropped at.

In total, 18,065 people were charged, with 14,756 convicted and a further 1,106 being cleared after trial.

Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, Jaswant Narwal, pictured, said: “We recognise the invaluable role victims and witnesses play in supporting us to bring prosecutions

“Any case that has to be dropped as a result of a victim refusing to give evidence or retracting their statements is a huge concern to us and we have undertaken considerable work to address this.”

She said the CPS works with a number of charities to address this issue and as a result the number of charges dropped is decreasing.

She said: “The CPS carefully considers every case we charge in line with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, first assessing whether there is enough evidence and, if there is, whether it is in the public interest to bring it to court.

“As part of moves to improve the way the criminal justice system works Transforming Summary Justice was introduced in May to improve how cases are handled in the magistrates’ court.

“This has meant a renewed focus on looking at where we believe the defendant will plead guilty. This means cases where the evidence is often overwhelming are dealt with at the first opportunity, reducing the number of hearings and ensuring fewer delays and swifter justice for victims and less requirement for them to attend court to give evidence.”