Number of rape victims who quit their trials doubles

THE number of rape victims pulling out of prosecutions has doubled in just three years, shock figures reveal.

Hundreds of rape and sexual assault trials are collapsing as victims lose faith after waiting years for justice. Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) figures show 95 rape victims withdrew from prosecutions in the nine months to September 2022, up from 47 in the same period in 2019.

The number of sexual offence victims withdrawing rose from 108 to 173 in the same period.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data shows more than 1,600 rape and sex cases collapsed over five years in England and Wales as victims and witnesses pulled out. The average wait between charging a rape suspect to a case being completed is now 442 days – in 2019 it was 293.

Kirsty Brimelow KC, head of the Criminal Bar Association, called for the ‘proper funding’ of barristers as delays ‘inevitably’ lead to victims giving up.

The MoJ said that over the past year rape convictions were up 65 per cent, while the CPS said it is determined to increase the number of rape cases going to court year on year.