Met Police Chief Claims More People Pleading Not Guilty Over Court Delays

Then head of counter-terrorism policing Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley outside New Scotland Yard, central London, in an undated file photo. (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, has said there has been a big increase in the number of people pleading not guilty to criminal offences, and he has said the barristers’ strike was partly to blame.

At a briefing with journalists on Tuesday, Rowley said the number of people pleading not guilty had shot up from 20 percent to 80 percent and he said the trend was causing great pain to victims, especially to those who have reported rape and sexual assault.

Rowley said: “The barristers’ strike has been a real challenge for us all. More and more cases are backing up in the system and that’s a real concern to me.”

He said, “I’ve heard that because cases are backing up in the system, struggling defence lawyers are persuading more of their clients to plead not guilty, which is adding to backlogs.”

“Someone told me that we were normally having, across all crime, about 80 percent pleading guilty, 20 percent not guilty, and at the moment it’s the other way round. Particularly for victims of sexual offences that is a problem,” Rowley added.

He said that a backlog of cases in both magistrates and crown courts which began during the COVID-19 pandemic and was worsened by this year’s barristers’ strike had persuaded many criminals to play the system and plead not guilty, hoping their case would be dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Backlog of 64,000 Crown Court Cases

The latest figures from the Courts Service showed there was a backlog of 360,611 cases in England and Wales at the end of August, and the crown court backlog hit 64,000 by the end of September. Some defendants are being told they will have to wait two years for a crown court trial.

Most of those are out on bail and the delays can lead to victims and witnesses withdrawing their willingness to proceed.

In England and Wales a person charged with an offence will initially appear at a magistrates court and may plead guilty at an early stage, saving the expense of a trial.

But if they face more serious charges like rape or murder they will be transferred to a crown court and will only be offered the opportunity to plead guilty at a later stage.

A defendant accused of rape or murder can change their plea from not guilty to guilty at any point, even including during their trial, but their sentence will only be significantly reduced if they plead guilty at an early stage.

The barristers’ strike ended last week when members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) voted to accept a new offer from the government, which gave them a 15 percent increase on legal aid fees for existing as well as new cases.

Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the CBA, said: “The backlog of cases is due to funding cuts to the criminal justice system ... Barristers advise clients based on the evidence collated by police and put together by the prosecution as well as on their account. Ultimately the decision of a not guilty or guilty plea is made by the client.”

A CBA spokesman said, in a statement to The Epoch Times: “Any ill-informed speculation by those tasked with investigating and charging crimes that there has been a sudden, wholesale change of heart by those accused of crime to plead not guilty, would do better to look at the remand prisoner population which is currently at a 14-year high because over 8,500 defendants remain locked up without having had a trial.”