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Criminal Proceedings: Evidence

Asked by Jim McMahonLabour (Co-op)Ministry of JusticeTabled Answered 4 December 2025UIN 94768

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many criminal prosecutions in England and Wales collapsed due to (a) lost (b) missing and (c) damaged evidence for each year from 2015 to date.

Answered by Sarah Sackman

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on criminal court prosecutions that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.

The Ministry of Justice cannot provide data on cases that are not progressed due to lost, missing or damaged of evidence. This information would only be held in the individual court records and examination of these records would be of disproportionate cost.

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