If you reported a sexual assault (or other serious crime) to the police, how long did it take to get to court?
Posted by Chance-Bread-315@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 57 comments
It's coming up to 3 years since I made the report to the police (which was within a couple of days after the crime took place) and I'm still yet to hear whether the police will judge it worth presenting to CPS.
I'd really like to hear other people's experience of how long this process took.
effefille@reddit
It took just under a year for the police to finish investigating my rape. I was given weekly or fortnightly updates.
Unfortunately, I joined the 97% of rape victims who don't get to take their case to trial because it didn't meet the evidence threshold.
Chance-Bread-315@reddit (OP)
I fear I'm going to be joining the same club, wish it would have taken less than a year to find that out. I'm very worried about how I'm going to feel after this long waiting if that's the case.
effefille@reddit
I feel you 💕 finding out it wasn't going to court was absolutely horrible, it felt like it was all for nothing, but that was a few months ago and now even though I didn't get justice, I'm still glad I reported.
I'd definitely recommend asking your police contact why it's taking so long though, 3 years for the investigation seems insane!!
Best_Needleworker530@reddit
I’ve been waiting since 2022. Still no updates. Police still texts me sometimes to ask if I’m still interested in getting it to CPS and I keep saying yes, they are not happy.
Icy_Reply_7830@reddit
I was called for jury service last year, the alleged rape was committed 6 years prior. I’m in the NE, in not sure whether location matters
hhfugrr3@reddit
Location does matter a bit. In Wales they're much faster but in most places it's the sort of shambles you experienced.
maersyl@reddit
I got called for jury in 2015 in Durham for an incident that happened in 2009, so that tracks.
SlickPillock@reddit
The courts are absolutely inundated right now. There's currently many people who've been accused of extremely serious crimes like child sexual abuse and grevious bodily harm who still still haven't been brought to trial. It started with COVID when social distancing restrictions reduced the numbers of people that could be processed. Since then there's been issues with extra bureaucracy and a lack of legal professionals that has only made the issue worse. This backlog is why the government is trying to minimise the number of jury trials which is terrible for democracy but with the current state of things there aren't many options for decreasing the backlog.
Alouema2@reddit
Reducing jury trials wont reduce the backlog. Investment might.
Conscious-Ball8373@reddit
I'm not sure this is a problem that you can just throw money at, either. You can't pull a cohort of experienced criminal barristers (which seems to be the main bottleneck) out of thin air by throwing money at the sector.
ARobertNotABob@reddit
There are bottlenecks throughout our justice system, all of which were/are being created by manpower shortages from underfunding.
3 years ago, there was an 18month-2year backlog, and it's only going to keep growing..
Conscious-Ball8373@reddit
Is that quite true? There are reports kicking around of 20% of courtrooms being empty, mostly because defence lawyers are in short supply.
hhfugrr3@reddit
A shortage of lawyers on both sides and on the Bench has been a real problem.
Even before covid the government was restricting the number of judicial sitting days to save money. When I was going through the process there were significant complaints that judicial sitting day restrictions meant Recorders couldn't get the minimum number of days in court they were required to do each year. In the year I went through the application process they were initially recruiting 250 new judges but cut that to about 80 by the end purely because there was no money to pay for the original number.
ARobertNotABob@reddit
I worked for an MSP with three solicitors businesses as customers (as I say, 3 years ago) and that's what they were telling me.
A huge chunk is taken by backlogs of child abuse cases.
Delays with collation and presentation of evidence, distribution, errata, re-writes demanded/argued by Defence and yada, Court dates changing, subsequent Court dates changing because an witness/expert is then unavailable, it's ongoing.
hhfugrr3@reddit
"It started with COVID when social distancing restrictions reduced the numbers of people that could be processed."
No it didn't. There was a large backlog before that partly for the reasons you go on to say have exacerbated the backlog since covid. I mean a couple of years before covid I was going through the process to sit as a part-time Crown Court judge. They were initially recruiting for about 250 new judges but that was slashed to around 80 because the government had limited sitting days so much that even existing part-time judges were struggling to fulfil their minimum sitting day requirements. The cause of the delays was entirely down to the closure of courts, the reduction in the number of lawyers at the Bar and on both the defence and CPS side of the solicitors profession as well as a big restriction on the number of days courts could sit and hear cases.
hhfugrr3@reddit
Not just sexual offences, but all offences can take forever to get to court unless they are incredibly open and shut, e.g. man seen driving car by police and is found to be over the drink driving limit.
Sexual offences nearly always require an examination of mobile phones and forensics. Because successive governments have worked hard to destroy the criminal justice system on all fronts from the police and prosecutors, defence lawyers, judges and courts, and even the forensic services, absolutely everything takes forever these days. I had a sexual assault allegation that was - to my mind - extremely straightforward. V said his flatmate touched him up while he was asleep on one occasion. No suggestion from either side that phones would be relevant. Forensics should have been very straightforward. The investigation took nearly 4 years from report to charging decision! I also had a careless driving allegation that took 3 years from collision to charge. These are extreme but a year or more for investigation followed by two to three years to trial is extremely common these days.
Ragingdildo3@reddit
Terrible but it’s half normal now, my friend was raped in December 2023 and has to see this person everyday around campus it will NOT go to trial until 2027 all I can say is be strong and work through it you deserve justice
hhfugrr3@reddit
I'm surprised to hear that they're allowed on campus. I've acted in a few cases involving students accused of sexual offences against other students and all of them have been removed from campus and suspended by their universities very quickly. One was suspended for the entirety of the police investigation, which inexplicably to me took nearly 4 years!!
Low-Captain1721@reddit
Yeah it's a terrible situation all round. Equally the alleged perpetrator should be free from suspicion if they are innocent. Many false rape claim fall flat on the very long route to court & low conviction rate. Many a good KC happy to tear alleged victims apart in the witness box as everyone deserves a fair trial - innocent until proven guilty a fundamental principle of our CJS.
SatinwithLatin@reddit
There is no innocent verdict in the legal system and "not guilty" doesn't mean they 100% didn't do it, it means there wasn't enough proof to convict. Just to let you know.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
Most certainly not. Very good competant KCs tear alleged victims apart to ensure defendants get a fair trial a protect defendant's from false accusations of which there are many. Everyone is entitled to this is fundamental to our CJS.
To explain to you 'Not guilty' means there is at least a reasonable doubt.
I see it everyday as part of my job. Sorry if it's not what you want to hear.
pennydogsmum@reddit
And all of this is why I never fucking bothered to report to the police.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
This is problem, a lot feel ditto. It's a terrible situation for alleged victims & perpetrators at mo - it's not likely to.imorive anytime soon either.
SatinwithLatin@reddit
And yet you're holding it up as an essential part of the justice system. What's wrong with you?
Low-Captain1721@reddit
No. Principles such as fair trial & innocent until proven guilty are the principles of our CJS. Everyone admits the way its implemented at the mo far from ideal
SatinwithLatin@reddit
You literally insist that tearing witnesses apart is apparently good practice. It's not. It lets actual rapists walk freely, raping more.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
No it doesn't. It ensured a fair trial for the defendant & exposes the trust.
Would you rather a guilty until proven innocent CJS .....(?). Would be quite absurd. Maybe you will accused of something one day.
I've got to work. Have a good day 👍
SatinwithLatin@reddit
It's already hard enough for a rape case to clear the bar of enough evidence to convict (not that I'm complaining about that part), no-one needs to retraumatise victims to make a point, and not doing so doesn't mean the accused will be imprisoned. Don't jump to extremes.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
You just don't understand criminal trails by the sound of it. At the point it gets to court we don't know the victims are victims.
Have a good day anyway 😀
forgottenoldusername@reddit
Unless you're living in Scotland this is both technically and morally untrue and flies in the face of our entire justice system.
AClockworkLaurenge@reddit
Scotland no longer has the Not Proven verdict as of 2026.
But they're not wrong in the reason for a Not Guilty verdict can range from 'this person was definitively proven Not Guilty by evidence in court' and 'the jury couldn't say/agree that this person was Guilty "beyond all reasonable doubt" based on the evidence available'. Both result in the same Not Guilty verdict despite being very different circumstances, because the burden of proof is on being able to prove a defendant's guilt 'beyond all reasonable doubt'.
Whereas a Not Guilty verdict isn't required to be beyond all reasonable doubt in the same way. Unfortunately justice does not always prevail in the justice system.
Ragingdildo3@reddit
I’d 100% agree if it hadn’t already been 2 years with a other year to do imagine having to look ur rapist in the eyes everyday on campus
Low-Captain1721@reddit
I appreciate your feelings, however probably the alleged perpetrator feels ditto.
AnAngryMelon@reddit
Ehhh, perpetrators often get away with it even when evidence is pretty damning based on technicalities or are given absurdly light sentences. It's quite well documented. False accusations are actually exceedingly rare, it's almost always the case that the prosecution simply lack enough evidence to demonstrate that the crime occurred beyond reasonable doubt.
And I agree that the bar for conviction should be relatively high (although I'd also overhaul the entire system if it were up to me but hey ho), but many people undeniably walk free despite pretty clear evidence of guilt for something or other.
I also think that it's perfectly reasonable for people not to particularly want to hang around with someone accused of rape, it's gonna feel awful if they get convicted and it turns out you were mates with a rapist. It's also a matter of safety, you can't expect women to feel comfortable around someone who may or may not be a rapist. I understand that basically anyone may or may not be a rapist, but it certainly doesn't feel safe does it? Would you hire someone under investigation for child sex offences to babysit for your children?
Front-Pomelo-4367@reddit
Being generally vague since it's ongoing:
It's been about 5/6 months since my incident and four months since the arrest. The date for them pleading guilty/not guilty in crown court is coming up in the next couple of weeks (absolutely shitting myself) and I'm expecting it to be another 18 months to go to trial if it's not guilty, based on what I was told.
In terms of the speed of everything happening, I was very, very lucky that my incident happened on a street with CCTV – I know that contributed to them being arrested, because there was a press appeal in the newspaper. I don't have any other information from the police or courts about why they decided to move forward with the case. Black box of information.
My therapist was also very surprised that it wasn't NFA and that it's moving through the system, so I know my case isn't the norm. I definitely expected a timeline in the multiple years, or for nothing to happen at all after I reported.
SingleMaltLife@reddit
Random internet stranger here. Just wanted to wish you well with everything happening and I hope it goes as smoothly as these things can and it’s not overly stressful or re-traumatising. I hoping they plead guilty for you to avoid the trial.
Front-Pomelo-4367@reddit
Thank you. The idea of it continuing to drag on absolutely sucks – all I can do for now is hope that it all wraps up with a guilty plea. And I feel this awful (work has suffered, social life has suffered) and it's been less than six months of dealing with it – my heart goes out to everyone who is forced to deal with this for years upon years of uncertainty.
RowRow1990@reddit
It never went to court. I got told I should be flattered over being stalked, the lad got talked to, not even a warning and that was the end of that as far as the police were concerned.
Chance-Bread-315@reddit (OP)
I'm so, so sorry.
RowRow1990@reddit
I didn't even bother reporting something else that happened before as I knew it wouldn't go anywhere.
I'm a writer, stories and poetry, and one of my best pieces is all about assaults etc. I also work professionally in the area, none of it surprises me.
umbrellajump@reddit
It didn't go to court. Police called it 'mutual petting' in the report, verbally told me it was dropped due to insufficient evidence. Despite having facebook messages where he admitted what he'd done and asking me not to go to the police because he was soo sorry. They took my clothes and never tested them. Took about two months for it to be dropped and three months to get my untested clothes back.
Had to see him at school every day, the police told me to talk to pastoral staff if he "bothered" me.
Chance-Bread-315@reddit (OP)
I'm so, so sorry.
FakeNordicAlien@reddit
It never went to court. The rape in 2005 (which I was conscious for, and remembered perfectly) got dropped by CPS because they didn’t think they could get a conviction, based on the fact that I’d changed my sheets that day so they thought that would be viewed as evidence that I was planning on having sex, and the one in 2024 (which I was drugged for and don’t remember much of) the police wouldn’t even investigate and the hospital didn’t do a drug test or a rape test because my brother told the doctors I lie about everything. By the time I got drug tested independently six days later, there were only traces left in my blood, not enough for the police to be interested, and I didn’t get a firm answer that I’d been raped until many weeks later, when I tested positive for three STIs. And then I was told that the STIs couldn’t be seen as evidence because I might have had them before. (I had not been sexually active in two years, and had been tested since then.)
I don’t want to make you feel like it’s hopeless - I hope your care goes to court and you get justice. But realistically, there’s a good chance it won’t. In 2005 I was told by Victim Support that roughly 5% of rape allegations end with a conviction; by 2024 that number was under 1%. It’s possible that the number hasn’t actually dropped that much in 20 years, and the two people I talked to are comparing two different things - perhaps cases opened by police vs all allegations made to police, something like that. I can only go by what I was told.
Sorry this happened to you.
sock_cooker@reddit
Coming up to 2 years, still waiting
Alouema2@reddit
Im just over the 2 year mark, still no charging decision. DV & coercive control.
FreeBogwoppits@reddit
(ex)Friend was convicted of rape in 2018, before the big court backlogs were currently in. Process took 38 months from the date the victim reported it, to the date he walked into the prison cell to start his sentence.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
Huge backlogs in our court system. Sexual assault allegations often don't meet CPS 'bar' for prosecution, many of those that do fall flat on the long route to court & for the very few that make it to court there's a low conviction rate.
Chance-Bread-315@reddit (OP)
What do you mean by this - 'many of those that do fall flat on the long route to court'?
AnAngryMelon@reddit
A lot of victims withdraw or stop pushing the case because the extended time frame is obviously not good for their mental health.
Being retraumatised and having to deal with it for years on end is obviously a miserable experience, and often won't result in a conviction anyway. A lot of people decide their mental wellbeing is more important and choose to try and drop it and move on.
Low-Captain1721@reddit
From the CPS deciding to potentially prosecute there will be a huge delay in the case actually getting to court. Many cases fall apart due evidencial reasons or simply any witnesses are not being available if it does eventually reach court.
It's also a very daunting for alleged victims as many clever KCs will likely tear them apart in witness box. Innocent until proven guilty and quite literally the tables can quite literally turn. Many alleged victims pull out.
It's very case specific & dependant on the evidence the potential case is based on however.
elisePin@reddit
Incident happened january 2020, went to court july 2025.
dinemu8@reddit
Does ‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ still hold true ? If yes, then the government is responsible to uphold this spirit for the society at large
Empty-Question-9526@reddit
Didn’t even go to court, person said no comment and they let them go
MissKatbow@reddit
Incident happened end of June 2025 and I made the report the same day. Trial was initially set for April 2026 but has been pushed to April 2027. We’ll see when it actually happens.
RelationshipLife6739@reddit
CPS as in Child Protective Services? I find it a disgrace that they aren’t instantaneously notified about something like this by the police whether or not they have the proof to prove it happened. In my opinion whether guilty or not it’s safer to have the potential perp on the CPS radar, than not in the off chance they’re not guilty of anything. The unfortunate likelihood is this same perp has probably been repeat offending throughout the last 3 years the police have failed to do anything about it, which is just downright sickening.
No wonder people go about getting their own justice these days when the system fails so many of us.
Im incredibly proud of you for speaking out though, as reporting this can be hard and I myself failed to do so after being in a similar situation (although thankfully I know this person will never repeat offend as they’re completely out of earths picture).
My advice is, although this could be distressing for you as I know you likely don’t want to have to revisit the trauma, but if you are able to find any potential past victims or partners of the perp you can try and help them see the light and report. With more than one complaint it becomes less of a he said she said situation and the police’s hand is essentially forced to sort it out 🤷♂️
Ok_Monitor_7897@reddit
I'm sorry to hear you've had such a long wait. My friend made a report in 2020 and is still waiting to go to the CPS.
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