Thousands of criminal cases collapsing due to missing or lost police evidence

Thousands of criminal cases collapse annually due to missing police evidence, impacting serious offenses like homicides and sexual assaults. The issue is attributed to lost, damaged, or unavailable evidence, with over 30,000 prosecutions in England and Wales failing between October 2020 and September 2024. A lack of resources and expertise in evidence storage is highlighted, leading to concerns about evidence management in police forces and affecting justice delivery. A review proposing the re-establishment of a national forensic service and potential criminalization of evidence mishandling is set to go before Parliament, aiming to address these critical issues.