Court delays ‘driving innocent prisoners to plead guilty’ in England and Wales

Exclusive: Some inmates being advised to change plea to secure earlier release as backlog spirals, watchdogs say

• ‘Lives on hold’: a day in the crown court where cases are delayed for years

Court backlogs are forcing alleged offenders to spend up to five years in jail awaiting trial and driving innocent people to plead guilty, two prison watchdogs have revealed.

Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons in England and Wales, said some of the 17,000 prisoners on remand had waited nearly five years for their cases to come to court.