Nearly 60,000 arrest warrants were issued for defendants who failed to appear in courts across England and Wales last year, marking a rise of nearly 50% since 2020, according to an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches, as cited by The Guardian.
The programme, set to air on Friday 29 May, also found that more than 30,000 failure-to-appear warrants remain outstanding, suggesting that tens of thousands of accused individuals may be on the run after being charged. However, it remains unclear how many individuals are subject to multiple warrants.
More than 7,000 of these outstanding warrants were issued before 2020, meaning some suspects have evaded arrest for six years or more. The data further shows that over a quarter of the warrants relate to category A offences, including rape, armed robbery and manslaughter.
The investigation also highlighted a sharp rise in court absences in serious cases. Dispatches found that failure-to-appear warrants in crown courts increased by 134%, rising from 6,808 in 2020 to 15,963 in 2024.
Former justice secretary Alex Chalk KC described the situation as a “horror show” and warned of deep systemic failures. He said, “The real question is whether the situation is recoverable at all. Delay is toxic. Every prosecutor knows it gives defendants more opportunity to disappear. That’s why this is a horror show.
“If you’re a defendant and you’ve been accused of a really appalling, serious crime, say rape, and you are told that your trial is not going to take place for three years, you might think: ‘Well, you know what? If I hang around, she’s going to get bored.’ So you might just go to Thailand.”
He added that the crisis had been driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, a barristers’ strike, chronic underfunding, and shortages in court and prison capacity. He also said he had warned then prime minister Rishi Sunak about the worsening situation, but claimed his concerns were not acted upon.
The crown court backlog stood at more than 80,000 cases at the end of last year, more than double pre-pandemic levels, and is projected to reach 100,000 by 2028. The prison population is also expected to rise to 100,000 by the end of the decade.
Press Association data shows that 625 crown court trials are not expected before 2029, with a further 29 listed for 2030.
According to The Guardian, the investigation also tracked down five fugitives using open-source intelligence. One of them, Ersin Mustafa, previously on the National Crime Agency’s most-wanted list for alleged insider trading, said from North Cyprus, “They know I’m here … the most they’ve done is send me an email.”
Another case featured Rashid Ali, who fled to Pakistan after being accused of death by dangerous driving in a case that killed 29-year-old Jack Ryan. He was tried in absentia, sentenced to five years, and later appeared to have returned to the UK despite an outstanding warrant.
Ryan’s sister Ciara said the system had failed her family, adding: “I would like it to be the case that people facing serious charges and custodial sentences aren’t able to have their passport and then essentially abscond, as has been the case for us. Having been someone that’s never been involved with the justice system before, I had a lot of faith in it in the UK. I was a believer in that it worked … [but] it’s not working. It hasn’t worked for five years for my family.”
In response, the National Crime Agency said it pursues fugitives “wherever they are in the world” and insisted there are “no safe havens for criminals”. The Ministry of Justice said bail decisions are made by courts and reforms are being considered to tackle the backlog, while the Crown Prosecution Service said it opposes bail where there are substantial grounds to believe a defendant will not attend court and maintains that efforts were made to ensure accountability even in absentia.
