Inside the UK’s ‘wild west’ court system where people may have to wait until 2028 for justice to take place

Published

6 months ago

December 4, 2024

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Are you free on 9 March 2026?

You might be a traumatised victim of crime, you may be the suspect accused of wrongdoing, either way you’ll be waiting for the next 460 days… and probably beyond.

That’s exactly what we have just seen inside Leicester Crown Court. Not just once, but case after case shunted into 2026.

The judge in court four isn’t doing it by choice but necessity.

“It is sad because it happened a very long time ago,” he says of the next case, as he consigns everyone involved in an already long-running saga to a further two-year wait.

The judge then turns to us, two Sky News journalists sat making notes on his rather mundane case.

“Can I ask why you are here?” he asks directly.

We’d been told the delays in crown courts across the country are becoming intolerable and the system is breaking down – causing enormous stress, anger and dismay to all concerned.

The judge then takes the unusual step of addressing the crisis to us in open court.

“I have cases day in, day out that I am having put over. It can be years, if you lose a date in 2025 it is 2026.

“All these cases you have to decide who gets priority… fraud cases are being put on the back burner. In my position I have cases put over for months, even years.”

As a rule, judges don’t do interviews, so this is as close as we’ll get to hearing what he thinks.

He is clearly exasperated and remarkably candid: “I don’t know where things are going to go but they aren’t going to get any better,” he says.

It is a small audience – two court administrators, two barristers, a defendant and two Sky News journalists – but the judge has had enough of this incredibly slow justice.

He is asking victims, defendants, families on both sides, witnesses, the police, court staff, barristers and solicitors to just keep waiting. Every week the backlog gets bigger.

‘Broken’ system

Leading barrister Mary Prior KC is sad at the crumbling system she navigates every day.

“People are still having trials. People are still having their cases heard. It’s the speed that that’s happening…

“I don’t like saying it’s broken,” she says. “But it is broken because it’s not effective. It’s not functioning in the way it used to function.”

She is the chair of the Criminal Bar Association which represents 3,600 barristers – many of them now exasperated by the gridlock.

“There’s this old saying, isn’t there? Justice delayed is justice denied.

“It’s incredibly difficult to have to look people in the eye and say ‘I’m sorry your trial is going to be adjourned until 2025, 26, 27 and now 2028’,” Ms Prior KC adds.

Between cases, a defence barrister in court four leant backwards to us in the public gallery after the judge’s monologue and said: “Well, what do you expect if you close so many courtrooms?”

Every day around 15% to 20% of court rooms remain idle in England and Wales – cases can’t proceed if there are not enough judges or barristers to run them – but that’s one part of a multi-faceted problem.

The police are charging more people who then need to go to court and on the other side the prisons are backing up and releasing inmates early.

Some barristers have had enough and are moving away from criminal law to work in less chaotic areas of the legal profession.

As we walk to the next court we pass a trolley used to shift paperwork around which has been shoved under some stairs. There’s a handwritten sign taped to it reading “DO NOT USE – BROKEN TROLLEY.” It feels symbolic.

Another KC explains to us in the corridor that the nationwide computer system they use for tracking cases and finding the details they need has gone down again. For a few hours, it’s making it impossible for him and his colleagues to effectively represent people.

To cap it off, the prison van for his murder case is two hours late. Again. The two teenagers he is prosecuting for murder arrived just before lunchtime – it happens most days.

The KC is waiting, the judge is waiting, the twelve members of the jury are waiting, the accused teenagers are waiting – the victim’s family is waiting. It’s them who must be suffering the most.

‘The whole system is f***ed!’

We were invited into the barrister’s robing room – which you might think would be quite a grand serene space – it isn’t.

There’s an electrician trying to fix another fault in a box on the wall.

The shared wood topped desk is full of barristers looking harassed with laptops open, their wigs sat next to them – most don’t have the preparation time they need for their next case.

It’s mid-afternoon when a stressed court clerk rushes in.

“I need someone to defend and someone to prosecute right away,” she says apologetically.

The case should have already started but it can’t without barristers to represent both sides. The chaos means there’s no point working out why nobody has turned up, it just happens.

Annabelle Lenton, a young barrister, rolls her eyes, sighs and volunteers.

“I’ve got no idea what is going on today,” she tells us exasperated at having to pick up another case with no time to look at it beforehand.

After the chaos she tells us why it matters to her they keep going.

“If you think about it, if we don’t have a functioning criminal justice system, we are in a position where you have people roaming the streets who are committing serious offences and there’s no retribution for that.

“People aren’t getting justice quick enough and if they’re not… what’s the point in any of it? People will start to give up.”

It’s also one of the reasons why significant numbers of young barristers are moving away from criminal work to other less stressful areas of law.

“It’s f***ing s**t. The whole system is f***ed!”

‘Like the wild west’

Understandably the straight-talking prosecutor we meet next doesn’t want us to use his name but he invites us into one of the tiny and tatty consultation rooms.

“People are now getting away with crimes because of the delays – cases that never actually go ahead because people pull out or there’s nobody to take them. I’d say that’s happening most weeks now.”

He prosecutes big cases in crown courts in the Midlands and the southeast of England.

“It’s bad here in Leicester, Snaresbrook (east London) is like the wild west – biggest court house in Europe with twenty courts, some of them are always empty and the delays are ridiculous.”

In Leicester they even have a ghost court – it’s called courtroom 99. It doesn’t exist – it’s just somewhere to move the cases that won’t get heard on the day they were supposed to.

It leaves victims of crime cast adrift and questioning whether or not to pursue their case.

The chief executive of the charity Victim Support, Katie Kempen, said: “The anxiety, the pressure, the despair, the long waits actually become unbearable for victims, especially when their court date keeps moving, keeps being lost.

“They really prepare themselves… if they find that the case is then adjourned on the day we see real acute distress and despair, sometimes we find that victims just can’t go on and so their opportunity for justice is lost.

“When they can’t actually get that day in court and they can’t actually see justice done for the wrong they’ve been a victim of, it is just absolutely devastating.”

As we leave down the newly gritted steps of the court building in Leicester another man who works for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stops to chat – also intrigued by our presence.

“It’ll take years to fix,” he says gloomily. “Actually probably a decade.”

UK

Tributes paid to mother-of-four among two skydivers who died in ‘tragic accident’

Published

2 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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Tributes paid to mother-of-four among two skydivers who died in 'tragic accident'

A mother-of-four was among two skydivers who died following a “tragic accident” at an airfield in Devon.

Belinda Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene following Friday afternoon’s incident in the area of Dunkeswell Aerodrome near Honiton.

On Facebook, her partner Scott Armstrong wrote: “I miss you so much, you were my best friend.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, from making my children feel at home to putting up with my mess.

“… there’s just so much that I don’t have the words to express it.

“I feel so lost. I don’t know where home is without you.”

Ms Taylor’s eldest son, Connor Bowles, paid tribute to a “selfless woman” who was also a grandmother to two young children.

Thanking investigators for their work so far, he told DevonLive: “She will be deeply missed and will leave an everlasting impression on all those she has met in life.”

The identity of the second skydiver who died is yet to be made public, but their family has been informed.

British Skydiving has confirmed it will be investigating the incident – with a report sent to the coroner, the Civil Aviation Authority and the police.

In a statement, SkydiveBuzz, which operates at the airfield, said its “deepest condolences go out to the families, friends and everyone affected by this devastating event”.

A spokesperson added: “Safety is, and always has been, our top priority. We are fully cooperating with the investigation and continue to uphold the highest possible standards in everything we do.

“No further details will be provided at this time. We respectfully ask for privacy for all those affected, including our team, during this incredibly difficult time.”

UK

Career spy Blaise Metreweli to become first woman to head MI6

Published

5 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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Career spy Blaise Metreweli to become first woman to head MI6

Career spy Blaise Metreweli will become the first woman to head MI6 in a “historic appointment”, the prime minister has announced.

She will take over from Sir Richard Moore as the 18th Chief, also known as “C”, when he steps down in the autumn.

“The historic appointment of Blaise Metreweli comes at a time when the work of our intelligence services has never been more vital,” Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement released on Sunday night.

“The United Kingdom is facing threats on an unprecedented scale – be it aggressors who send their spy ships to our waters or hackers whose sophisticated cyber plots seek to disrupt our public services.”

Of the other main spy agencies, GCHQ is also under female command for the first time.

Anne Keast-Butler took on the role in 2023, while MI5 has previously twice been led by a woman.

Until now, a female spy chief had only headed MI6 – also known as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – in the James Bond movies.

Dame Judi Dench held the fictional role – called “M” in the films instead of “C” – between 1995 and 2015.

Ms Metreweli currently serves as “Q”, one of four director generals inside MI6.

The position – also made famous by the James Bond films, with the fictional “Q” producing an array of spy gadgets – means she is responsible for technology and innovation.

Ms Metreweli, a Cambridge graduate, joined MI6 in 1999.

Unlike the outgoing chief, who spent some of his service as a regular diplomat in the foreign office, including as ambassador to Turkey, she has spent her entire career as an intelligence officer.

Much of that time was dedicated to operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.

Ms Metreweli, who is highly regarded by colleagues, also worked as a director at MI5.

In a statement, she said she was “proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service”.

“MI6 plays a vital role – with MI5 and GCHQ – in keeping the British people safe and promoting UK interests overseas,” she said.

“I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners.”

Sir Richard said: “Blaise is a highly accomplished intelligence officer and leader, and one of our foremost thinkers on technology. I am excited to welcome her as the first female head of MI6.”

UK

Farming: Cost of rural crime in Wales at its highest in more than a decade

Published

5 hours ago

June 16, 2025

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Farming: Cost of rural crime in Wales at its highest in more than a decade

The cost of rural crime in Wales is at its highest in more than a decade, a new report has revealed.

Last year, rural crime cost an estimated £2.8m in Wales, according to insurance provider NFU Mutual.

That’s an 18% increase on the previous year, with Wales the only UK nation to have seen a rise.

For farmers like Caryl Davies, that makes their work harder.

The 21-year-old farms on a beef and sheep farm in Pembrokeshire.

She told Sky News that having the quad bike stolen from her family farm last August had made them feel “really unsafe at home”.

The fact it happened in such a rural area was a “really big shock” for Ms Davies and her family.

“We’d rely on the bike day in day out, to look after our cows and sheep, and it’s had a really negative impact on us,” she said.

The cost of replacing a bike exactly like theirs would be “close to £10,000”.

“They’re a really expensive piece of kit, but you can’t be without them, especially in these rural areas where we’ve got the mountain and maybe places that aren’t very accessible,” she added.

“The bike is totally crucial for our day-to-day running of the farm.”

The incident was caught on camera in the calving shed, but the Davies family have since invested in an enhanced CCTV system. That comes at an additional cost.

“For some farmers, this is spare money that we haven’t really got,” Ms Davies added.

“Farming is hard enough as it is, without people stealing your things and having to spend this extra money on making your home farm safe.”

The total cost of rural crime across the UK has fallen since 2023 – down from £52.8m to £44.1m.

Quad bike and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) remained the top target for thieves during the past year, NFU Mutual’s figures show.

James Bourne farms in Pontypool, Torfaen, and claims to have had over 200 sheep stolen from common land adjoining his farm over a four-year period.

The 32-year-old told Sky News that losing sheep from his herd was a “big hit” on his business as well as the young family he is trying to support.

“The way agriculture is at the moment anyway, we’re struggling to make ends meet, and any profit that is in it is obviously being taken from me,” he said.

“So I really need to try and find out and get to the bottom of where they’re going because obviously it’s an ongoing issue.”

Andrew Chalk, from NFU Mutual, told Sky News that while there had been a “significant drop” across the UK, there were “worrying signs”.

“In Wales, especially, rural crime’s gone up which just shows that organised criminals are looking for ways to target the countryside again and again,” he said.

“What we’ve found increasingly is that organised criminals are targeting certain areas of the countryside, so they’re hitting multiple farms in one night.

“They’re raiding them, they’re moving away to another area and then hitting multiple farms there. So it is hugely concerning.”

Mr Chalk said NFU Mutual had also heard reports of criminals using drones and other equipment to “look at the lay of the land”.

“What it does show is that organised criminals are always going to find new ways to target rural crime and that’s why we need to be on top of it and to work together to actually disrupt them,” he added.

Police forces in Wales say they are aware of the “significant impact” that rural crimes have on those affected.

A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesperson said the force had acquired new technology to help combat rural crime, including “advanced DNA asset-marking kits” and hopes to “empower farmers with effective tools and advice”.

The spokesperson acknowledged the difficulty of patrolling the entire police force area, “given the huge area” it has to cover, and thanked rural communities for their “continuing vigilance and for reporting any suspicious activity”.

Temporary Chief Superintendent Jason White, from Gwent Police, said the force would be “increasing resources” within the rural crime team throughout this financial year and urged anyone in a rural area who believes they have been a victim of crime to get in touch.