Kieran Donnelly

The average time to process a criminal case in 2017/18 was 162 days while there is an 802-day wait to take summons cases through the Crown Court, up 3.4 per cent on last year, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Waiting times for such cases in the adult Magistrates Court also rose by 2.8 per cent to 198 days and youth Magistrates Court by 2.6 per cent, to 248 days.

Meanwhile, charge cases saw improvements across all courts.

The Crown Court averaged still exceeded a year, at 427, though showed a decrease in waiting time of 10.3 per cent over 2017.

For the adult Magistrate Court, the average time was 69, a reduction of 2.8 per cent while in youth Magistrates Court the wait was 110 days, down a week on the previous year.

The Department of Justice welcomed the statistics, saying: “Reducing the time it takes to complete criminal cases in Northern Ireland is a hugely challenging and complex issue.

“It is a shared endeavour between Department of Justice and our criminal justice partners.

“We are all working together to deliver a justice system which creates a safe community where we respect the law and each other.”

Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said in March he did not think the criminal justice system was delivering value for money.

“The cost of criminal justice is significantly higher than in England and Wales and cases take considerably longer to complete,” he said.

“This has negative impacts on victims, defendants and witnesses.”