Ministry of Justice officials have revealed that thousands of crimes – including serious offences such as murder, manslaughter, rape, child sex offences and burglaries – were carried out by people who had been released on bail.
In the last five years there were 55,504 incidents when a suspect bailed for one crime went on to commit another offence.
Of those, 36,708 were indictable crimes, which means they were so serious they can only be heard in front of a judge and jury at a Crown Court.
Justice system critics say the benefit of doubt is given to too many suspects who are freed and then commit more offences.
The topic was highlighted by the tragic case of 14-year-old Jermaine Cools, who was killed in a machete attack by 17-year-old Marques Walker in Croydon, South London, in November 2021.
The murder took place while Walker was on bail after having being caught a month earlier with a lethal 20in zombie knife while travelling on a bus in the capital.
And last year saw Nigel Malt, 45, convicted of the murder of his 19-year-old daughter Lauren – an attack carried out while on bail for having assaulted his wife.
The court heard Malt breached his bail to turn up at the home of his estranged wife and children, in West Winch, Norfolk, where he drove over Lauren after trying to attack her boyfriend with a crowbar.
MoJ figures show there were 122 killings, 168 rapes, 374 sex offences against children and 6,321 burglaries carried out by people who had been granted bail since 2018.
One in every 12 burglaries is committed by a suspect granted bail and around one in every 25 murders was committed by a
so-called “bail bandit”.
David Spencer, research director at the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “These figures graphically illustrate why bail should not be the norm.
“If there is any doubt about whether someone poses a threat, the presumption must be to keep them behind bars.”
A Government spokesman said: “Bail decisions are made by the police and judges, but anyone who commits a crime while on bail faces a tougher sentence.”
