Thousands of violent crimes committed by suspects on bail, investigation finds
An investigation reveals more than 3,700 violent offences and nearly 50 killings by bailed suspects in a year, raising public safety concerns.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A new investigation has exposed the scale of violent crime committed by suspects who are out on police or court bail, prompting fresh warnings about the state of the justice system.
Data obtained from the Ministry of Justice shows that between 2023 and 2024 there were more than 3,700 incidents of violence involving offenders on bail, including nearly 50 homicides. The figures also record almost 1,000 rape and sexual offences committed by bailed suspects.
The investigation highlights several cases where men accused of violence went on to kill while awaiting trial or investigation. Simon Levy, who received a whole life order, had been on bail for sexual assault when he murdered Carmenza Valencia Trujillo and Cheryl Wilkins. Nigel Malt, convicted of murdering his daughter Lauren by running over her twice, was on bail for assault. Habibur Masum, who killed his wife Kulsuma Akhtar as she pushed a pram, was also on bail for assault and threatening to kill.
The family of Alan Sutton, a 41-year-old man stabbed to death in Barnsley in September 2024, described their anger that his killer, Callum Strachan, had been bailed three months earlier for a separate assault involving a weapon. Humberside Police said the earlier case did not meet the threshold to remand him in custody.
The wider picture shows a system under growing strain. The number of people on bail from Crown Courts has risen from around 16,000 before the pandemic to more than 47,000 in the latest figures. The number of defendants on bail for more than a year has increased twelvefold.
A serving magistrate, speaking anonymously, told investigators the system is failing. She said poor training and a shortage of legal advisors were leading to unsafe bail decisions. "It is a Russian roulette," she said. "I wouldn't trust the system." She added that magistrates were under pressure since Covid to avoid remanding people to prison unless there was no other option.
Former Court of Appeal judge Lord Brian Leveson, who recently published 135 recommendations to reform the criminal courts, said the findings were another wake-up call. "Action is, in my judgment, critical," he said. He called for more funding, structural reform, and greater efficiency across the justice system.
The Ministry of Justice said bail decisions are a matter for the independent judiciary and that it is investing in more prison places and reducing court backlogs.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 4 |
|---|---|
| Between 2023 and 2024 there were over 3,700 violent incidents and nearly 50 killings by offenders on court or police bail. | |
| The number of people on bail from Crown Courts increased from about 16,000 before Covid to over 47,000 in the latest figures. | |
| The number of people on court bail for more than a year increased twelvefold. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 is the originator of this investigation, so its coverage is detailed, exclusive, and heavily focused on human impact, raw data, and institutional failure. It includes emotional interviews with victims' families, a whistleblowing magistrate, and a senior legal figure, framing the issue as a systemic crisis rather than a series of isolated errors.
- “If I was a victim, I honestly think I would just take things into my own hands. And if I had the money to flee, I think I would just flee. Yeah, that's the truth. I wouldn't trust the system.”
- “If he were never let out on bail for stabbing someone else, he would have never stabbed my dad, in my opinion.”
- “Action is, in my judgment, critical.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.