Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd says better treatment of victims by criminal justice system encouraging more people to report sexual assaults

Increases in sex offences are not due to more historical cases emerging after the Jimmy Savile scandal but reflect a sustained change in behaviour, according to the lord chief justice.

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd believes improvements in the way victims are treated by the criminal justice system are encouraging more people to report sexual assaults.



Giving his annual press conference at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, the most senior judge in England and Wales said the sustained growth was due to contemporaneous cases.



Figures from the Office for National Statistics for the year ending June 2015 showed there were 31,621 rapes and 63,861 other sexual offences in England and Wales, the highest level since the national crime recording standard was introduced in 2002/03.



The Crown Prosecution Service has said it has seen the “highest volume ever” of cases involving violence against women and girls. Convictions last year increased by 17%.



“The rise in sexual offences is continuing,” Thomas said. “Some people thought it was because of historic crimes. The view now taken is that this is not right but that there’s an increasing [amount] of sexual offending … which is contemporaneous. I have no doubt that the way in which we have improved the treatment of witnesses at the police station, by the prosecution authorities and in court [have contributed to the rise].

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“Although there’s a long way to go, people may be more willing to take their complaints to court. We have made giving evidence better, [although it remains] a horrible experience.”



Pilot projects in Kingston, Liverpool and Leeds, where victims are cross-examined shortly after an attack and the exchanges recorded to be shown later to a jury, will be expanded, the lord chief justice implied. They help victims to “move on with their lives”, he said.

In the aftermath of a judge in Bristol breaking down in tears when he sentenced the killers of teenager Becky Watts, Thomas was asked whether judges needed extra support or specialist counselling.



“Few people have any idea of the sheer depravity to which people can sink and a judge often has material in front of him or her which cannot but distress people ... [But] I think most people find the collegiality of a judge’s life and being able to talk it through with their colleagues helps,” he said.



Thomas expressed concern about the length of time some suspects were held on bail, but he did not advocate imposing absolute time limits. “It’s very important that investigations are progressed as swiftly as possible,” he said.



On the recently introduced criminal court charge, which requires all those convicted at magistrates or crown court to pay between £150 and £1,200, Thomas said judges had warned that many people would not be able to meet the additional financial demands. “I don’t believe [the criminal courts charge] is raising much money,” he added.

He said fines were expected to be paid off within two years. “If you impose more than that, you will inevitably impose amounts that people simply can’t pay … I hope that the lord chancellor [the justice secretary, Michael Gove] will look at the problem in the round.”



More than 50 magistrates have resigned in protest at the criminal courts charge, saying they cannot impose extra costs on defendants. Human rights and justice groups say the charge puts pressure on defendants to plead guilty early, rather than risking higher charges if they are eventually convicted.