Tazi Hupefi
Member
I have no idea if the above statement is true or not, but I am sure that if the police investigate and believe there is sufficient evidence to mount a prosecution the matter is then handed to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision. This would be another safeguard for the accused. The downside, for the accused, of things going this far is that the current state of the court system means that a case can take many, many months to come before a court and you've got to be very certain of your innocence to want to risk things going that far.
It's a common myth that it takes many months / years to come before court.
Magistrates' Courts are actually really effective, (even with Covid), and you could resolve a criminal matter (even with a short trial) within 8-10 weeks of getting a summons, virtually all over the country. The vast majority of offences are dealt with at this level. Even more serious offences known as "either-way" such as Fraud, can be tried in the Magistrates' Court, and if their powers aren't enough after a finding of guilt, send the defendant to Crown Court just for sentencing, which again, is fairly quick. You are statistically unlikely to be acquitted at a trial in the Magistrate Court. There is a very high success rate for the prosecution.
The delay is almost entirely at Crown Court level, when a full jury trial is needed. And you would be quite right to state that I am seeing trials listed for late 2022 just as a floater, (i.e. we have to hope that another trial cracks/collapses to slot this one in!). The only reason for this really is a shortage of judicial sitting days. There's PLENTY of court capacity, (courts are woefully underutilized), but not enough judges available, and it's getting worse because of a recruitment crisis, and the fact the government doesn't want to fund more sitting days!