Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were stopped as a result of witness withdrawal or non-attendance in (a) Crown court trials and (b) hearings in magistrates' courts relating to (i) domestic violence (ii) rape and (iii) other cases in each of the last five years.

Criminal cases discontinued by the prosecution are recorded by Her Majesty's Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS). However, the reasons why a case was discontinued are only recorded centrally for cases which are listed for trial but do not go ahead on the day. The reasons for these ‘cracked’ trials, including ‘prosecution end case’, are published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics in the supplementary Criminal Courts transparency tables. These data are not broken down by offence.

The reasons recorded for cases discontinued at any other point in proceedings are not held centrally by HMCTS. This information could only be provided at disproportionate costs.