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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent

Years of delays to rape trials a ‘significant injustice’, says judge

The Old Bailey in London.
The senior presiding judge for England and Wales said the cases had been delayed by a series of ‘shocks’. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

More than 180 alleged rape victims in England and Wales have faced more than two years of delays since their case first went to court, with a senior judge announcing plans to clear the “serious stain” on the justice system by the end of July.

The senior presiding judge for England and Wales, Lord Justice Edis, said that most of the targeted cases were sent to the crown court by magistrates courts in the summer of 2021 and so were now approaching their three-year anniversary, calling it a “significant injustice”.

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