Court backlog needs 'urgent action' says Met chief

The Metropolitan Police commissioner wants to see "urgent action" to address problems in the justice system, including criminals being left untagged and "out of control repeat offenders" being released on bail.

Sir Mark Rowley said in a report to the London Policing Board that about 30% of criminals in the capital who should be electronically tagged were not because the devices had never been installed.

He highlighted that around 150 tagged offenders breached the restrictions enforced by their tag each week.

He also warned that trust and confidence in the justice system among Londoners had fallen, dropping from 66% in 2021-22 to 57% in the most recent Public Attitude Survey.

This decline should be a "wake-up call" for courts, the Crown Prosecution Service and probation services and that "urgent corrective action" was needed to ensure Londoners "know that justice will be delivered", he added.

In his latest report to the board, Sir Mark said the "stretch and strain" on the criminal justice system was increasingly evident after years of underfunding, but that not all of the issues were due to financial pressure.

London has five crown court cases listed for 2030, two of which involve alleged actual bodily harm; 614 for 2029 and 1,173 for 2028.

"We are failing to deliver swift and effective justice in all of these cases," Sir Mark wrote.

He also said that in the year to the end of August 2025, about 25% of knife crime offenders were aged 10 to 19, and that nearly 20% of robbery offenders were in the same age group.

"Too often, despite clear risk and rapid escalation, courts are defaulting to bail.

"This places the young person and the public at risk when there is a clear need for intervention," the commissioner wrote.

Sir Mark said courts were "too often" defaulting to bail "despite clear risk and rapid escalation".

The Met Police will request urgent action at the London Criminal Justice Board in the coming weeks.

"We need the London CJS (criminal justice system) to come together to set out a clear shared plan of action which puts victims first.

"No victim should be waiting three-plus years from the point of charge to getting their day in court," Sir Mark wrote.

"The Metropolitan Police Service is taking a paper to the London Criminal Justice Board in the coming weeks to set out this shared challenge and request urgent action.

"While some of these challenges are linked to funding, not all of them are."

The force will call for more court sitting days in London to tackle the crown court backlog, a plan to tag every offender who should be tagged and for the consequences for breaching the restrictions imposed by the tag to be set out clearly.

Another request will be to set out "clear expectations to the Crown Prosecution Service and judiciary that out-of-control repeat offenders (including teenagers) should be remanded for their own safety and for the wider safety of the public".

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