According to shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, expanding on the contents of her party’s new manifesto, should Labour win the general election next month, it will establish 80 new rape courts across and England and Wales to fast-track cases as part of “wide-ranging plans to tackle violence against women and girls”.
Apparently, these special courts will be set up in unused rooms in existing crown courts, in an effort to stem the growing backlog that causes more than 50 per cent of rape victims to drop out before their cases start.
