Meanwhile, the number of cases waiting to be heard across England and Wales has nearly doubled.
Baroness Newlove, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said the figure represented a ‘failure of our justice system’ which ‘cannot go on’, adding: “Change must come”.
New figures from the Ministry of Justice show there were 2,075 open cases waiting to be heard by crown courts in Northumbria as of the end of September.
It marks a 62.62 per cent increase since September 2019, before the Covid pandemic, when there were 1,276 cases.
It is also the largest backlog since 2016 when current records began.
Nationally, the backlog stood at 73,105 cases at the end of September, a 10 per cent rise on the previous year and nearly double since September 2019, when there were 35,310 cases outstanding.
Prosecutors warned victims are facing waiting times of between two and five years before a case goes to trial, with court listings running into 2027.
The director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said the wait times in the criminal justice system are ‘probably worse than I’ve ever known them to be’.
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Figures show 5,660 cases had been waiting for two years or more at the end of September while just 592 were waiting this long at the end of December 2019.
The latest figures prompted the Government to announce it has drafted retired judge Sir Brian Leveson to perform a major review of the court system.
In Northumbria, there were 261 sexual offence cases waiting to be heard, as well as 217 theft offence cases and 738 for violence against the person.
Ministers suggested scrapping jury trials in some cases could be among measures considered to cut the backlog.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the ‘scale of the crown court crisis inherited by this Government is unprecedented’.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “There remains a record and rising Crown Court caseload which delays and denies justice for far too many victims.
“That’s why we’re committed to bearing down on the backlog and have asked Sir Brian Leveson to conduct a major review into criminal courts to speed up justice for victims. This is on top of announcing a further 2,500 sitting days – taking the total to 108,500 this year – and continuing to use Nightingale Courts across the system to hear more cases.”