The latest figures published by the Department of Justice show that the median time for a case to be disposed at all courts was 162 days in 2017/18.

The figure is a 1.8 per cent decline from the previous year, but still the second highest figure in the last five years.

There was a 10.3 per cent decrease in the time taken for charge cases to be disposed at Crown Court, 2.8 per cent decrease at adult magistrates’ courts, and six per cent decrease at youth magistrates’ courts.

However, there was an increase in the time taken to process summons cases at the same courts: an increase of 3.4 per cent at Crown Court, 2.6 per cent at adult magistrates’ courts, and 4.9 per cent at youth magistrates’ courts.

The median time taken to complete cases where the main offence was a public order one was 137 days, compared to a median time of 622 days taken for cases where the main offence was in the sexual offences category.