The prime minister has promised a royal commission on the criminal justice process, as soon as next monthPaedophile trials are in danger of collapsing because crown court delays are making evidence from children unreliable, The Times has learnt. The prosecution of an alleged paedophile who is accused of raping a three-year-old is under threat after the case was repeatedly delayed at a court in the southeast of England. It is now due to start more than two and a half years after the offence was reported. Delays in the courts are said to have been triggered by a combination of cuts to sitting days, the sale of court buildings and the police increasingly using new powers to release suspects under investigation rather than put them on time-limited bail. Robert Buckland, QC, the justice secretary, faces pressure to provide more sitting days at

Source: The Times January 31, 2020 00:03 UTC