What the crown court backlog means for Southend and Basildon

Five months earlier, he and his friend had been pulled over in a van that turned out to be stolen. Both were charged with handling stolen goods.

The driver had already pleaded guilty, the court heard, but this young man – the passenger – was pleading not guilty.

“He accepts he was there,” his barrister explained. “But he denies knowing the van was stolen.”

According to the defendant, his friend picked him up in the van and he just naturally assumed he had the proper authority to be driving it.

It was a plausible explanation which, if true, meant the passenger was totally innocent. But he will spend another year and a half with the charge hanging over his head.

He was among many defendants this month told they’ll have to wait until summer 2026 to face a jury.

A woman accused of misusing a blue badge on Southend seafront was given a trial date of June 2026. By then, it will be three years since her alleged crime.

Another lady, charged with beating up a female acquaintance, faces the same wait.

Our investigations reporter sat in dozens of plea hearings throughout November to see firsthand the consequences of Britain's mounting crown court backlog (Image: Essex Police) If the defendants are innocent, they spend years with the stress of pending criminal charges, likely to damage their reputations, love lives and job prospects. They may also be subject to restrictive bail conditions, preventing them from going on holiday or even leaving home after dark.

If they are guilty, they remain at large for years, potentially committing further offences. Victims live in fear of reprisals, or even just bumping into the perpetrators in the street. Sometimes that fear overwhelms them and they withdraw support, causing prosecutions to collapse.

The Criminal Bar Association reported a 41 per cent increase in rape complainants withdrawing from prosecutions in the first six months of 2024, compared to the first six months of 2023.

So what is causing this damaging backlog?

Under Conservative austerity, the criminal justice system suffered severe and sustained cuts.

In 2019, that included capping crown court sitting days at 85,000 per year, meaning courts sat empty while thousands of cases waited to be heard.

• WATCH Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales Sue Carr warn MPs about the growing backlog:

According to the Secret Barrister – who writes anonymously about life in Britain’s criminal courtrooms – courthouses with smaller backlogs bear the brunt of such caps, as they are given fewer sitting days than those in areas with higher backlogs.

While Basildon is setting trial dates in 2026, other centres are reportedly listing cases as far away as 2028.

Southend Crown Court, part of the Basildon court for administrative purposes, often sits unused while trials are shunted back to 2026.

“The logic is that cutting court sitting days saves money on court staff,” the bestselling author told the Echo.

It saves money on ushers and clerks, some of whom are agency workers; on part-time judges, who are paid by the day; and on barristers and solicitors, who often earn nothing until a case is over.

“But ultimately it’s a fiddle,” the author contended. “It’s simply kicking the can down the road. It’s an accounting scam, designed to move costs around on a spreadsheet.

“In fact, it’s worse than that: it’s actively harmful. Because delays caused by these cuts increase the likelihood of miscarriages of justice, as witnesses’ memories fade.

“This means innocent people convicted and potentially highly dangerous guilty people acquitted… So it is the falsest of economies.”

In 2021/22, the cap was lifted amid significant adverse press coverage. The number of court sitting days shot up 25 per cent and the backlog started to shrink.

The new Labour government publicly claims it is “increasing sitting days” – but that is not true.

The Conservatives had planned to reintroduce a cap of 106,000 – but had not done so by the time they lost this year’s general election.

Many in the legal world hoped new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, himself a former barrister, would invest in trying to bring down the crown court backlog. Instead, he has imposed a cap on court sitting days (Image: PA) Many in the legal industry had hoped new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, himself a former barrister and director of public prosecutions, would scrap the proposal.

Instead, he has kept it but marginally increased it, to 106,500 – higher than the planned Tory cap, but lower than the uncapped sitting days available before he imposed it.

The decision has sparked criticism from Lady Chief Justice Dame Sue Carr, who said the cap would have a “drastic” and “distressing” impact on the worsening backlog.

Addressing MPs in late November, she echoed the Secret Barrister’s sentiments.

“You are deferring the cost and indeed you are increasing it,” she told the House of Commons Justice Committee – pointing out that inflation alone means holding a trial in 2026, for example, will cost more than holding it in 2024.

Sam Townsend KC, chairman of the Bar Council – which represents nearly 18,000 barristers – has also said the renewed cap is “causing real concern”.

“If we are to have any chance of reducing the court backlogs, we need to restore the policy of uncapped sitting days,” he said.

In south Essex, it means potentially highly dangerous individuals remain in circulation.

One man, accused of carrying out sex attacks on random women in the street, recently pleaded not guilty at Basildon Crown Court.

“The defence is that the touching was accidental by chance encounter and the touching was not sexual,” said his barrister.

“But the victims describe him grabbing them in their crotch areas,” scoffed the judge. “One is unfortunate. Two is really unfortunate.”

That man will remain free on bail until his trial in late 2025, by which time he will have been at large for a full two years since his alleged offences.

Dame Sue Carr, Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, has warned that a cap on crown court sitting days will worsen court backlogs and only end up costing even more than just holding trials today (Image: PA) That’s one of the quicker trials, as cases involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, like domestic abuse or sexual assaults, are fast-tracked.

Another man, accused of brandishing a knife in Southend and attacking somebody, was released on unconditional bail until his trial date in May 2026. He walked out of court laughing.

A man accused of carrying out two violent, racist attacks in Basildon, then attacking the police officer dispatched to arrest him, was listed for trial in May 2026.

A Basildon man accused of beating a woman, then attacking three police officers, was bailed to stand trial in June 2026.

Perhaps the most extreme recent example of south Essex’s court backlog was a young woman accused of assaulting another woman and causing her actual bodily harm (ABH).

The supposed incident occurred in in summer 2019.

In November 2024, she was finally invited to court for a plea hearing – at which, a barrister announced that the Crown Prosecution Service was now dropping the case anyway.

“The Crown have become aware recently of evidential and other difficulties,” he said.

“We are no longer satisfied that there is a realistic prospect of conviction… We have come to the conclusion that it is no longer in the public interest to pursue this prosecution.”

Although it was not explicitly stated, this likely meant the alleged victim was no longer willing or able to testify.

Contacted by the Echo, a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) spokesperson said Labour’s cap of 106,500 sitting days was “more than in six out of the last seven years”.

It said all five of Basildon’s courtrooms were in operation every weekday from November 4 to November 22.

However, Southend’s Crown Court sat unused for roughly two out of every three days.

The MOJ recently told that Financial Times that despite being “bound by a challenging financial inheritance”, it was “committed to bearing down on the crown court backlog”.

Part of that plan involves giving magistrates with no legal qualifications the power to impose year-long prison sentences after trials without juries, which the MOJ claims will free up 2,000 crown court sitting days nationally.