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Morwenna Loughman, a survivor of a violent rape that occurred in February 2023, has spoken out about the emotional toll caused by repeated delays in her attacker’s trial. Despite enduring over 48 injuries, she faced more than two years of uncertainty before her attacker was finally convicted in August 2025. The trial was postponed twice at short notice, leaving her feeling “resilenced” and as though she was “not human anymore.”
In an interview with BBC Newsnight, Ms. Loughman, who has chosen to waive her anonymity, revealed how the first court date being cancelled left her “devastated.” Nevertheless, she remained resolute in her fight against a justice system she described as being “constructed to dismiss you.” She shared her belief that her attacker had committed similar crimes before and was a continuing threat, saying, “We had to stop him.” During the process, she also found out that her attacker repeatedly violated his bail conditions after the initial delay, prompting fears that “he could have been anywhere.”
The second postponement came unexpectedly for Ms. Loughman when she received police confirmation that the trial was proceeding, only for it to be abruptly withdrawn eight hours later without explanation. The ongoing delays and uncertainty deeply affected her mental health, causing nightmares, flashbacks, and severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, including extreme vomiting. She described becoming “a shadow” of her former self and suffered significant personal losses, stating, “I basically lost my job. I lost my home. My home was a crime scene. I was terrified to be awake, terrified to be asleep because of the nightmares and the flashbacks.”
Research conducted by the charity Rape Crisis England and Wales highlights a troubling trend of trial delays, revealing that a third of cases were postponed at least once in 2024, compared to just one in ten in 2015. The charity emphasized that such delays constitute a “direct cause of retraumatisation” for survivors and increase the risk of further violence against women and girls. Acknowledging the crisis, Justice Minister Sarah Sackman told Newsnight that the system’s state was “absolutely unacceptable” and committed to efforts aimed at increasing courtroom capacity and recruiting more staff. She stressed that “Justice delayed is justice denied.” According to Ministry of Justice figures, the number of open Crown Court cases reached a record high of over 78,000 by June 2025. With her attacker now convicted, Ms. Loughman expressed cautious hope, saying, “It’s only now that he has been convicted that I can start to feel like myself again,” and reflecting on the deep impact of her experience: “Being raped violates you in the most horrifying of ways. I couldn’t look people in the eye for two-and-a-half years and it is only now then I can start to rebuild my life.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
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