Crown Court Backlog eventually begins to fade

The massive backlog of cases facing the Crown Courts across the Uk as a result of the pandemic finally began to decline during the month of May.

The Ministry of Justice say that 57,503 cases were outstanding in the Crown court system at the end of May, down from 58,228 at the end of April. This has been helped by the number of makeshift courts that have been used. The makeshift courts that have been used include hotels, theaters and, town halls. This has helped to reduce the backlog by around 200 cases a week during May.

There is still some way to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels as cases needing tp be heard rose by some 50% last year.