Victims of crime are facing lengthy delays for justice amid a chronic backlog of cases - with one trial recently put back until March 2023.
Delays at courts and tribunals around the country have worsened in the last two years, with cases slowing and jury trials stopping during the initial lockdown.
The backlog at crown courts in particular is yet to clear - and experts say funding cuts meant it was already mounting before the onset of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Daniel Lake, 39, of Alcock Drive in Sprowston, appeared before Ipswich Crown Court to plead not guilty to stealing £165,986 from the East Anglian Lings Motor Group.
His trial - which is expected to last six days - will not be held until March 2023.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures for Norwich Crown Court at the end of June show a 47pc year-on-year increase in outstanding cases. At the end of 2020, they reached their highest level since 2014. The MoJ said it had secured half a billion pounds to tackle the impact of the pandemic and reduce backlogs.
Victims say waiting for justice leaves them "in limbo" and unable to move on with their lives.
Karen Holmes waited two and a half years to see Gediminas Nagulevicius, 38, sentenced over her mother's death.
Sheila Holmes, 74, had been cycling in Bungay when she was hit by Nagulevicius, of Greenland Avenue, King's Lynn, driving a HGV pulling an unladen tanker trailer.
He pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, having earlier denied causing death by dangerous driving, and was jailed for 12 months.
Though the family was satisfied with the sentence, she said postponements and changes over the last two and a half years had been frustrating at an already difficult time.
"It is definitely a case of being in limbo," she said. "Someone needed to be held accountable - our mum was killed, she did nothing wrong. The longer it goes on, the more it hurts and the longer nobody is held to account.
"We were desperate for some sort of end. It's frustrating and it's a difficult system to be in."
Experts say delays to cases also risk outcomes - victims can withdraw support for prosecutions, while memories of incidents can fade over time for witnesses.
Simon Nicholls, director of Belmores Solicitors in Norwich, said the situation was different at magistrates and crown courts.
"There's an old saying that justice delayed is justice denied," he said. "That applies not just to victims and complainants but also to defendants and witnesses.
"The longer a case takes to be heard the more difficult it may be to be successfully prosecuted or defended. At the end of the day it's right that victims should see justice quickly, but it's equally right that people who are accused of offences that they haven't committed should also have their names cleared as quickly as possible."
He said at Norwich Magistrates' Court agencies had "pulled together" to "produce a return on cases that is distinctly quicker than most other magistrates in the country", thanks in large part to the use of virtual methods.
He said the nature of trials at crown courts, which often include juries, were difficult to safely speed up.
In October, the National Audit Office (NAO) said MoJ models suggested the crown court backlog could still be between 17pc and 27pc higher than pre-pandemic levels by November 2024.
It said the backlog had risen by 23pc in the year up to the pandemic.
Kara Shingleton, Victim Support's area manager, said: "It is sadly not surprising to hear that victims across Norfolk and Suffolk and the country more widely continue to face serious delays in accessing justice. Long waits for trial have been a significant issue for many years and have only been exacerbated during the pandemic."
She said delays had a damaging impact on victims' health and wellbeing, but could also deter victims from engaging with the justice system in future.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “We recently secured the largest funding increase in more than a decade – including half a billion pounds to tackle the impact of the pandemic, reduce backlogs and deliver swifter access to justice.
“This is on top of boosting support funding to £185m a year to make sure victims are supported at every step of the justice system.”
Outstanding cases are dropping in magistrates courts, they said, and are nationally almost 70,000 fewer than in the peak last July.
What does the data show?
MoJ figures for Norwich Crown Court show at the end of June this year there were 766 outstanding cases, compared to 787 at the end of March.
It was a 47pc increase compared to the end of June 2020 (520). At the end of 2020, the figure reached 840, its highest since 2014.
Nationally, at the end of June 2021 there were an estimated 60,692 outstanding cases at crown courts, an increase of 40pc compared to the end of June 2020 (43,217 cases).
It was also the highest level of outstanding cases seen since the series began in 2014 and continues increases seen since March 2019.
At Norfolk magistrates' courts - in Norwich, King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth - there were 6,220 outstanding cases at the end of June 2021. It was an 8pc increase on the previous quarter (5,768) but a 27pc reduction on the end of September 2020 (8,516).
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