Rape has been ‘effectively decriminalised’ by lengthy court delays

A rape victim facing a six year wait for justice says the offence has been “effectively decriminalised” by court delays.

The professional woman, in her 30s, wrote to the judge after being informed her case was being postponed for a second time, delaying it into the sixth year since she originally reported the crime.

“It is terrifying knowing that so many women before me have tried and failed to get justice, knowing that not just me but every woman I know is not safe or protected by our system, knowing that our system has effectively decriminalised rape,” she wrote.

“We have tried so hard to protect each other by reporting what happened to us, and I have now lost all confidence that I will ever be safe.

“I don’t have the words to describe how traumatic this process has been, but I keep going because I have to do everything I can to stop him from doing what he did again – and he will do it again.

“All I have done is try, for five years now, and in return I get doubted, re-traumatised, and treated like I am the one who has done something wrong. I have felt like just another number in a file rather than an actual person.”

She said she knew of “far too many people” who had been sexually assaulted but “because of the way I have been treated, none of them will report what happened to them”.

It comes as Home Office figures show that the proportion of rape victims withdrawing from prosecutions has hit a record high of 66.2 per cent, up from 58.6 per cent last year and 40.7 per cent in 2016. The average wait for a rape victim from reporting the crime to a crown court verdict has increased to 722 days.

The surge in victims withdrawing from prosecution, partly as a result of delays, has seen the proportion of rape offences resulting in a charge fall to just 1.5 per cent. The figure for sexual offences now stands at 3.1 per cent.

The Labour Party has said the failure to introduce specialist police rape investigation units is to blame. Out of 43 police forces, 15 – a third – admitted they lacked a specialist unit with six failing to provide a response, suggesting the real figure could be higher.

This contrasts with the police watchdog’s guidance on investigating rape that: “specialist police rape teams are best equipped for this role and can provide the best service to victims.”

‘A truly shameful record’

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, who obtained the data on police specialists, urged Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, to use her statutory powers in the 1996 Police Act to make it a basic requirement for every police force in England and Wales to have a specialist rape unit.

“Today across the country 300 women will be raped – yet barely a handful of those cases will reach court while dangerous rapists and criminals are getting off. That is a truly shameful record,” she said.

Claire Waxman, London’s Victims’ Commissioner, said: “It is heartbreaking to see the significant toll that court backlogs continue to have on victims. We regularly see rape victims waiting too long for a charging decision, and then waiting several more years to get to court, with some only finding out on the day that their trial has been postponed.

“I have long called on the Government to establish a specialist court for rape and serious sexual offences, to be staffed by specially trained staff and have cases heard by Judges with specialist training. The impact would be to help tackle the delays and increase victim confidence and support for the trial process, and to ultimately improve justice outcomes.”

Seven in 10 rape cases collapse as victims withdraw

More than seven in 10 police rape cases collapse  in parts of Britain because victims withdraw complaints in face of court delays and intrusive questioning of their personal lives, official figures have revealed.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data shows that more than 70 per cent of rape investigations in six police forces were closed in the latest quarter because the victim did “not support police action.”

They were Cumbria (77 per cent), Northumbria (76.7 per cent), Thames Valley (74.7 per cent), West Midlands (73.1 per cent), Bedfordshire (72 per cent) and North Yorkshire (70.4 per cent). This compares with under 50 per cent in Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, Gwent, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester and Devon and Cornwall.

Nationally, 62 per cent of rape investigations were closed because victims no longer supported police action. A further 18 per cent of those who continued after charging dropped out as they no longer supported a prosecution.

It comes amid increasing delays in securing justice, with victims in some areas of the country having to wait nearly three and a half years on average to come to trial from the point of reporting the offence. Fewer than one in 50 rape cases result in a charge.

To improve prosecution rates, police forces are also rolling out Operation Soteria to ensure officers focus on investigating the behaviour of the alleged rapist rather than testing the credibility of the victim by digging into their personal life.

Ministers are also extending nationally pre-recorded video evidence by victims to spare them the trauma of reliving the rape in court in the presence of their alleged attacker.

On Thursday Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the reforms were starting to have an impact, citing figures showing the number of rape cases referred by police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were up by more than 50 per cent and number of suspects charged up by 54 per cent.

“We are restless to go further and are recruiting more sexual violence advisors, improving collaboration between police and prosecutors, have just launched a 24/7 sexual abuse helpline and quadrupled funding for victim support services compared to 2010 so that victims get the justice they deserve,” he said.

However, the figures show victims in the worst-performing force areas are having to wait four times longer than those in the best on average.

Surrey has the longest waits with rape victims facing delays of 1,239 days - 3.4 years - between them reporting the crime and the trial being completed in the crown court. This compares with just 269 days in Cambridgeshire.

Across England and Wales, the average time that a rape victim has to wait between offence and the trial concluding is 715 days, or just under two years.