Suffolk is bucking a national trend which has seen courts clogged with a backlog of cases – and one of the county’s judges has led the way in reducing the numbers.
The Crown Court backlogs in the county are actually decreasing, while nationally they are on the rise, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.
This means that fewer cases in Suffolk are waiting for an outcome at Ipswich Crown Court, which serves the whole county.
The data shows there were 1,052 outstanding crown court cases in Suffolk as of September – down from 1,120 a year earlier.
However, this was a rise from 404 outstanding cases in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the county’s judges has led the way in bringing the numbers down.
Resident Judge Martyn Levett explained he was concerned to read the constantly appearing headlines across the nation reading “Victims ‘suffering’ as crown court backlog hits record high”.
Judge Levett spent two years bidding for additional judges from the Judicial Appointments Commission.
This organisation appoints 30 judges and distributes them across the country each year and eventually Judge Levett successfully bid for two new appointments.
This means Ipswich Crown Court now has five full time judges and one sitting in retirement.
Judge Levett explained that the appointment of two new judges and the complementary support from the judges sitting in retirement and Recorders (part time judges) has given the listing of cases much more flexibility which has allowed Suffolk to buck the trend.
He added the dual effects of the pandemic and the 2022 barristers’ strike have severely affected the functioning of the criminal courts in recent years, with hearings delayed and the case backlog growing to record highs.
Nationally, the case backlog reached a record of 64,709 in 2023 initially due to Covid-enforced court closures and social distancing, and then again in 2022 due to industrial action by criminal barristers.
Judge David Wilson joined Ipswich Crown Court as a circuit judge back in October.
He was appointed as a Tribunal Judge in 2019, a District Judge (Magistrate’s Court) in 2021, and as a Recorder in 2022.
Judge Levett said at the time: “This is an amazing opportunity to bulldoze through the Ipswich Crown Court backlog of cases caused mainly by the pandemic."
Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore added: “I’m delighted to hear that progress is being made on the backlogs. This is good news all round particularly for the victims.
“So we’ve moved from being one of the worst performing areas and these improvements are of course really welcome.”
On average, cases in Suffolk had been waiting 249 days to be dealt with – with 144 cases unresolved for two years or more.
In September 2019, cases in the area were waiting 83 days, while none had waits of longer than two years.
The improvement is despite a record backlog across England, with the Victims' Commissioner expressing "grave concern" at the new figures.
Across England, there were 66,547 outstanding cases in crown courts.
This was up 6% on the year before and the highest figure since records began almost a decade ago in 2014.
Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, said the figures were concerning and "no victim should be expected to wait years before their case gets to court".
She called for "urgent and creative intervention" to address the backlog.
However, the Ministry of Justice said crown courts were now handling more cases than at any point since 2019 – and it is likely the backlog will rise in line with higher caseloads.
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