Bradford Crown Court’s growing backlog of cases is down to years of chronic underfunding as well as the coronavirus pandemic, a leading local barrister said today.
Stephen Wood QC, head of the city’s Broadway House Chambers Criminal Team, was responding to news that the crown court had 920 outstanding cases at the end of December.
This was an increase of 6.2% from the end of September and 27.1% at the end of 2019, when there were 724.
A Parliamentary report has warned that the pandemic has left the courts system in England and Wales in crisis with a backlog of cases that will take years to clear.