Judges are running up a huge bill for “luxury” travel while crime victims face heart-wrenching waits for offenders to reach court.
The cost of their first-class rail fares was £195,000 in six months to September, official figures reveal.
If that spending continues at the same rate, the annual total will exceed £390,000 – a massive 50% increase on the 2021/2022 figure of £260,000.
When most courts were closed for several months during the pandemic in the year 2020/2021, the sum still totalled almost £145,000.
The costs are mounting amid an increasing record number of outstanding criminal cases.
Rachel Almeida, assistant director at charity Victim Support, blasted the Tories for allowing this luxury travel.
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She said: “Court backlogs are worse than ever and our entire criminal justice system is in dire need of investment.
“We are supporting survivors of sexual violence whose lives are on hold, waiting as long as five years to have cases heard. In these desperate times, the Government needs to be doing all it can to find money to fund a struggling system.
“The fact that court delays have been worsening as spending on this luxury has been going up does seem all the more perverse.”
Outstanding criminal cases in the crown courts of England and Wales hit a record 61,212 in August.
The problem snowballed in 2019 due to funding cuts and the reduction in court sitting days.
The problems were then made worse by the restrictions of Covid. And two months ago, that backlog leapt by another 1,000 when barristers went on strike in their dispute with No10 over Legal Aid.
A spokesman for the judiciary said: “Judges may claim expenses only for travel incurred on judicial business and they will often work while travelling.
“High Court judges frequently sit outside London when hearing trials.
“First-class accommodation while travelling will often provide the appropriate level of working conditions and privacy for judges.”
