Over 200 cases collapsed against defendants due to unavailable evidence from West Mercia Police in two-year period
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the shared data unit revealed 13,255 prosecutions were given to CPS between October 2022-September 2024, with 209 (1.58%) collapsing due to unavailable evidence
209 cases collapsed against defendants due to evidence being not available or missing from West Mercia Police between October 2022 and September 2024 a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has shown.
When a case cannot move forward because key evidence is not available from the police force, it is recorded as an “E72” in CPS data.
A request made from the shared data unit to the CPS asked for a monthly tally of all collapsed cases with an E72 code over that time, broken down by crime type and police force.
It revealed how many prosecution cases were dropped due to evidence not being available at every police force in England and Wales and how many of those related to sexual offences and to murder.
The code is used when the prosecution cannot proceed because an exhibit, statement, scientific (such as technical, medical, forensic or other expert evidence) or any other essential evidence to the prosecution case is not available or missing.
Data shows 13,255 prosecutions were handed to the CPS between October 2022 and September 2024 by West Mercia Police, with 209 (1.58%) of them collapsing due to evidence not available.
None of the cases which collapsed were murder ones, but three were sexual offences.
The CPS’s counting unit is based on defendants, not cases, which means a case could have multiple defendants, so there could be defendants in this data who haven’t been convicted of a crime but other defendants may have actually been convicted for the same crime.
The data reported also shows the proceedings that originated in the stated police force but does not necessarily indicate that a prosecution was commenced or completed in the geographical area covered by that force or the corresponding CPS Area due to cross border transfer of cases.
In response, West Mercia Police were asked for comment and referred us to one from a spokesperson from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who said: “Police and the CPS work together to ensure evidence is gathered and presented in a timely manner, bringing offenders to justice and ensuring victims are safeguarded.
“The E72 category refers to evidence that is either missing or unavailable when a defendant is going to trial following being charged, for example, police may not be able to find an expert witness to give evidence or it may be that a required medical statement cannot be obtained.
“When evidential issues occur in a case, the CPS will raise this with police for any action deemed necessary and we will work together to ensure these are resolved wherever possible.”
Between October 2020 and September 2024, 30,552 prosecutions could not proceed as a result of unavailable evidence, roughly equating to 2% of all prosecutions, with that figure including 70 homicides and 554 sexual offences.