Peterborough charity hopes more court funding eases stress for victims
The government is funding more than a thousand extra Crown Court days this year compared to last
Last updated 7th Oct 2025
A Peterborough charity is welcoming extra funding so victims have shorter waits to be heard in court.
It comes as the Crown Court will be able to sit for a total of 111,250 days this year, up by 5,000 compared to last year, reaching the highest levels on record.
This follows an announcement from Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy that the government will fund an extra 1,250 days.
It's aiming to tackle the backlog of cases, making sure victims see their day in court more quickly and holding more criminals to account.
Long wait leaves 'victims in limbo'
"Victims feel in limbo, it can cause severe mental health problems like anxiety and it doesn't allow that victim to move on from that abusive relationship," Mandy Geraghty from Peterborough Women's Aid said.
"Having a long wait, and sometimes we are talking years, means the victim could potentially disengage from that process, and fewer perpetrators can be convicted.
"Sometimes it can be pressure from the perpetrator, and sometimes it can be that going back through what has happened to them so long later is so traumatic that they just can't face it."
Mental health issues
Mr Lammy said the current backlog of Crown Court cases is more than 78,000.
"That is why we are acting with the biggest investment on record as part of our Plan for Change," he said.
"We know there is more to do, and generational reform that cannot wait, but this investment will help ease the torment and bring swifter justice to many more victims."
The Government said that while extra sitting days will help bring the backlog down in the short-term, only "major reform will address the crisis in our courts."
There are 78,329 Crown Court cases waiting to be heard, according to the Government.
This means that victims are often waiting three or four years for their case to come to trial.