Shabana Mahmood reveals ‘absolute precedence’ in fixing justice disaster – ‘not serving anyone’

People who are wrongly accused of crimes as well as victims are being failed by the courts system, the Justice Secretary has admitted.

Shabana Mahmood said reducing the record courts backlog is her “absolute priority” as she vowed to address people waiting years for justice. She announced major plans for 2,000 extra court sitting days after data last week showed the number of cases waiting to be dealt with by Crown courts hit a new high of 73,105 in September It means courts can now sit up to 108,500 days this year – the highest figure in nearly ten years.

In a two-hour long grilling at the Commons’ justice committee, Ms Mahmood emphasised that fixing the wider criminal justice system was crucial to fixing the crisis in prisons – which has dominated the agenda since Labour was elected to power.

It comes as there are record numbers of people on remand – those in prison who are waiting for their case to be heard in court. Ms Mahmood admitted the government needs to think “bigger and bolder” as she said the current courts system is failing everyone involved.

“In the end you have to re-interrogate what justice means and justice delayed is justice denied, I think is a very true thing,” she said. “Is it right that victims are caught up in the system for years on end?

“It’s undoubtedly the case that some defendants are gaming the system… There are also going to be some innocent defendants caught up in the system who have waited years and years to clear their name as well. It doesn’t serve anybody well at the moment and therefore I know we have to do something different.”

Last week Ms Mahmood launched a major review of the courts that will be led by the ex-High Court judge Sir Brian Leveson, who chaired the 2012 public inquiry into the British press. It is due to go on until spring 2025.