Justice Secretary Alex Chalk wants prosecutors to go after more rapists “than at any point” in British history to restore confidence amongst victims.
Mr Chalk admitted the bungled prosecution of Liam Allan in 2017 led to a loss of faith in the criminal justice system.
But he told the Daily Express he wants the CPS to go “after more rapists” and stressed “there are real grounds for feeling the situation is improving”.
The Ministry of Justice today (Wednesday) claimed that the number of suspects being charged is nearly at the highest level in a decade.
In the wake of the Allan case, prosecutors were forced to deny that they were taking cases they were near certain they would win. And justice chiefs admitted police were too focused on assessing the victim’s credibility, rather than interrogating every aspect of the suspect’s life.
Mr Chalk said: “In 2019, rape convictions dropped and that was partly because of a really bad miscarriage of justice but since then, there has been a really dramatic turnaround.
“More people are being prosecuted for rape than in 2010, the conviction rate is higher, the sentences are around a third longer, and offenders are serving a higher proportion of those sentences in custody.
“We’re going to go further.
“We want to get to the position where we are prosecuting more rape than at any point in time in British history. And we’re well on the way to achieving that.”
In the year to June 2023, there were 68,109 rapes reported to the police in England and Wales, but in the same period just over two per cent of cases resulted in someone being charged.
In December a report by Rape Crisis revealed that the number of adult rape cases waiting to get to court had reached a record high of 2,591.
A review found that a “lack of knowledge” by police and prosecutors was to blame for the botched prosecution against Liam Allan.
The officer in charge of the case failed to find key evidence among 57,000 messages on the alleged victim’s mobile phone, the report found.
Mr Allan, 22, had been charged with 12 counts of rape and sexual assault.
The case against Mr Allan at Croydon Crown Court was dropped after three days when the evidence on a computer disk containing 40,000 messages revealed the alleged victim had pestered him for “casual sex”.
Many campaigners are concerned victims are abandoning hope of justice because they are waiting years to face their victims in court.
One legal source told the Express he had heard of cases of rape victims self-harming because they had been waiting for their case to come to court for so long.
It has emerged one victim is facing a five-and-a-half year wait to face her attacker in court.
The victim reported the alleged rape to police in September 2019 but
may not face the defendant until early next year.
Challenged over the huge delays, Mr Chalk told the Daily Express: “There is no doubt we need to be driving that down. Part of the issue is more cases are being prosecuted than ever before. But we have a plan to bring those waiting times down.
“First, we are recruiting over 1,000 judges. Second, we’re keeping 20 Nightingale Courts open. Third, we are investing in legal aid lawyers, who we need to ensure these cases are prosecutions are effective.
“I want to see prosecutors going after more rapists. By April, we will have recruited 2,000 specialist rape prosecutors. There is no doubt, in 2019, the system really slowed down unexpectedly. That was in response to a very heightened miscarriage of justice.
“I accept there is further to go, and you are completely right to raise this issue of timeliness and we’re going to be laser focused on that. We’re putting very considerable resources into ensuring that it is in the best possible state to bring rapists to justice.
“When you drill into the figures, there are real grounds for feeling the situation is improving.
“Compared to 2010, more people are being prosecuted for rape. If you read some of the coverage in this area, you wouldn’t think this is the case. Cases are being better prepared by the prosecution.”
The Justice Secretary said he is focusing on giving victims more support through the entire process, including access to specialist support workers.
He added: “Compared to when I was prosecuting these cases back in 2010, the situation is night and day. Back then, you made your statement to the police and it went quiet until the trial took place, months or years later. Now, there is much more involvement, with Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, with court familiarisation visits, with special measures, we want to make sure all of that is working at its optimum.”
Mr Chalk spoke to the Daily Express as the Ministry of Justice announced cowards who kill their partners with sexual violence will face longer behind bars.
A new statutory aggravating factor will be brought in for offenders who cause death through abusive, degrading or dangerous sexual behaviour – or so-called ‘rough sex’ – meaning killers are handed down tougher sentences than ever before.
The Government has also appointed leading academic Professor Katrin Hohl as the new Independent Advisor to the Rape Review.
Independent Advisor to the Rape Review Professor Katrin Hohl said: “Rape is the most serious survivable crime in English and Welsh law. The purpose of the rape review is to reform the criminal justice process so it is fit for purpose for rape victims and effective in holding perpetrators to account. As the Independent Advisor, I will challenge and support the government in achieving this ambition.
“I commend the progress made to date. My priority is to help tackle the remaining challenges, such as timeliness, strengthening victims’ rights and meeting victims’ needs, head-on.”
Fiona Mackenzie, Founder of We Can’t Consent to This campaign added: “This is an important step in ensuring that men who kill women in sexually motivated violence do not get away with a lighter sentence.
“This change should ensure that any future perpetrators of violence of this sort are properly punished, and send a clear message that this violence against women is unacceptable in our society.”
