The Government are soon to be giving Magistrates new powers to increase the maximum prison sentences they can hand down from six months to a whole year, in order to address the backlog of cases in Crown Court.
Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion “I welcome these enhanced powers for Magistrates, there has become a backlog of cases across Crown Courts and Magistrate Courts which needs to be addressed. This will help those victims who have been seeking justice for far too long to get the closure they deserve.
“I am committed to the needs of victims and witnesses in West Mercia. I voiced my concerns of this backlog in June 2020 and then a year ago, when a report was released sharing the staggering numbers of people involved. I feel this is the first step to seeing these figures in the backlog as people and understanding the extreme vulnerability this has created for the victims and their families.”
In January 2021 PCC Campion sent a letter to the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State about this unacceptable backlog in the courts.
