WEST Yorkshire’s two crown courts are facing a backlog of more than 3,500 cases.
The figures have been published by the Ministry of Justice, and both Bradford Crown Court and Leeds Crown Court sit in the top 20 courts in England and Wales facing the largest backlog.
In 15th place is Bradford, which, as of September 30 this year, had 1,426 criminal cases waiting to be dealt with.
Leeds sits fourth, with 2,135 cases, following Maidstone (2,367); Minshull Street Manchester (2,378), and Snaresbrook, which tops the list with a backlog of 3,442 cases.
The backlog of cases waiting to be dealt with in crown courts has hit another record high, prompting the Government to consider “fundamental” reform of the courts system.
Abandoning jury trials for some cases is one measure that has been suggested.
A review, led by retired judge Sir Brian Leveson, will look at whether so-called intermediate courts – where cases too serious for magistrates’ courts but not serious enough for the crown court – could be heard by a judge flanked by magistrates.
Sir Brian will also be asked to consider whether magistrates should have their powers expanded again so they can hand down longer jail sentences and tougher punishments, allowing them to take on more cases and freeing up judges in crown courts to consider more complex, serious crimes.
Ministers are also facing the prospect of deciding if fewer sentences should lead to jail time as part of a separate review, which could mean more criminals being punished with measures like electronic tags, community service, and curfews.
It comes after a watchdog last month called for “radical” action to overhaul the criminal justice system amid warnings the backlog of crown court cases could soon top 100,000.
Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the body that monitors the performance of the Crown Prosecution Service said now was the time to stop “tinkering” around the edges to fix problems in the criminal justice system and instead have a “fundamental” rethink on how cases are handled.
The Ministry of Justice published court backlog figures for the first time in several months on Thursday amid concerns over inaccuracies with the data.
The department found some of the caseload had been inaccurately recorded, meaning past court backlog statistics for every quarter except one since the start of 2016 have been revised, with more corrections yet to take place.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman told reporters: “Under the previous Government, it was identified that there were inaccuracies in the data.
“Obviously, in this highly critical context, it’s right that all policy making is evidence-based, and it was right that the department took the time to ensure that it could be confident in the quality of that data.”
The Justice Secretary drafted in auditors to carry out checks, she said, adding that the now-published figures “is data that we can be confident in”.
News of the review prompted campaigners to repeat calls for investment in the justice system.
Sam Townend KC, chairman of the Bar Council, welcomed the review but called on the Government to take “urgent action now to avert more crisis”.