Almost 75,000 crown court cases waiting for trial, say head of CPS

Budget cuts would be catastrophic', warns Max Hill, director of public prosecutions for England and Wales

The head of the Crown Prosecution Service has warned that cutting its budget would have a catastrophic" impact on the backlog in the crown courts, which he revealed had reached almost 75,000 cases at the end of last month.

Max Hill, the director of public prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales, told the House of Commons justice committee that the backlog was above the 70,200 recorded in August 2020, after court closures because of Covid.