London court delays are putting justice in jeopardy

Figures out today show nearly 500 cases were halted by magistrates because prosecution lawyers took too long to prepare the relevant files.

Almost 400 more defendants walked free because of police delays in submitting paperwork.

Hundreds of other cases were abandoned due to missing evidence or because witnesses, including police officers, failed to turn up at court.

A separate snapshot survey of London courts by the Evening Standard uncovered a host of failed and delayed cases that raise questions about the effectiveness of the justice system. Examples included:

A prosecution for domestic violence abandoned after three previous adjournments when the prosecution witness failed to appear. The judge described the case as a "shambles".

A shoplifter whose case has been adjourned 10 times and who is still to be sentenced.

The Crown Prosecution Service figures show there were 23,507 unsuccessful prosecutions in London in the year to 31 March.

Of these, about 4,000 failed because the defendant was either acquitted, given a caution or bound over, or had the offence taken into consideration during sentencing for a separate crime.

Other reasons included victims refusing to testify, defendants being elderly or ill and discrepancies in witness statements. However, many cases failed for avoidable reasons, wasting taxpayers' money and distressing victims.

These included 488 in which an adjournment was refused by magistrates when CPS lawyers admitted they were not ready to proceed, and 374 where police were not properly prepared. Another 3,929 prosecutions failed because an "essential legal element" was missing.

These included instances of crucial CCTV footage being lost or destroyed, or incorrect procedures used in gathering evidence.

The failure of victims or witnesses to turn up at court led to the collapse of 1,413 cases, including 414 in which the absent person was a police officer.

Another 317 were aborted because of a failure to produce medical or forensic evidence and 42 were scrapped because evidence was not admissible in court due to a breach of rules governing its collection. The biggest problem, however, was with defendants who disappeared after being charged and freed on bail. This led to 6,584 prosecutions being "written off ".

Prosecutors are powerless to prevent this happening because bail decisions are made by courts or the police.

Today, the CPS stressed the overall conviction rate in London was 82 per cent last year, a nine per cent rise on four years ago and the equivalent of 106,844 successful prosecutions.

Similarly, the capital's proportion of "discontinued" cases, which stood at 9.9 per cent last year, is better than the national average and ahead of some other metropolitan areas.

Dru Sharpling, chief crown prosecutor for London, said some failures were the result of a more aggressive approach towards bringing cases, raising the risk of an unsuccessful outcome. An example was domestic violence cases, which accounted for 10 per cent of failures - often because the victims felt unwilling to testify in court.

Ms Sharpling said: "The CPS will often take challenging cases to court which are not always straightforward. Despite these challenges, the attrition rate has steadily decreased in the last four years. Lawyers and police officers work closely together before suspects are charged, to bring robust cases to court. Cases do, however, change. The CPS must act on those changes by stopping the case if problems cannot be rectified."