Chief prosecutor 'sorry' to victims of crime as delays 'worse than I've ever known'

5 December 2024, 08:12

By Charlotte Lynch

@charlotterlynch

The country's top prosecutor has apologised to victims of crime who haven't felt supported, saying Crown Court delays are "probably worse than I've ever known them to be".

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson vowed to get more victims to stick with the process, after LBC revealed the number of rape complainants dropping out of their cases rose by more than 40% in the first half of this year.

Setting out a plan to curb the "high level" of victim attrition, where they withdraw support for prosecutions, he said the delays faced by victims are "totally unacceptable" and a key reason behind making improvements.

Speaking to LBC, Mr Parkinson admitted he was "frustrated, and a bit surprised" that progress hadn't been made before he entered the role a year ago, and said he is "sorry it's taken until this point to get where we are".

He suggested a culture of prosecutors feeling too "shy" to show empathy towards victims, saying he's found "a sense that in some way, our independence will be compromised by having conversations" with them.

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Chief prosecutor 'sorry' to victims as delays 'worse than I've ever known'

"We need to be empathetic, we need to be understanding of the issues they're going through. It's a gradual awakening from our point of view," he said.

Around 20% of adult rape cases, where there had been a charge, stopped between March and May this year because the victim no longer supported a prosecution - around two out of 10 cases.

Mr Parkinson said that was five times the quarterly average in 2020.

He also said defendants are "taking advantage of the delays" by deliberately pleading not guilty, knowing victims are more likely to drop out if the process is prolonged.

40 victim liaison officers (VLOs) have been hired around the country to act as a single point of contact with the CPS for victims of rape and serious sexual offences.

They will keep in touch about their case throughout, and offer them pre-trial meetings with prosecutors, after victims accused the organisation of a lack of communication, and a lack of sympathy when they were contacted.

The project is in its "early days" but so far 550 people have been offered meetings and 28 have taken place so far, mostly online.

Mr Parkinson said the CPS had been "thinking about this for some time" but officials accepted they could have acted sooner.

He said: "This is just the beginning. We're going to evaluate if this works," adding: "I'm fairly confident that it will work in terms of improving the confidence of our victims, we're going to get feedback from them.

"So hopefully it will improve confidence, but also hopefully it will also reduce victim attrition."