Delays to my rapist's trial left me terrified, survivor tells BBC

Morwenna Loughman shared her story with BBC Newsnight

A rape survivor said repeated delays to her attacker's trial left her feeling "resilenced" and "not human anymore."

Morwenna Loughman was violently raped in February 2023 and suffered more than 48 injuries. Her attacker was convicted in August 2025 - more than two years later - but only after the trial was cancelled twice at short notice.

Sharing her story with BBC Newsnight, she said she kept going because she had a "gut instinct that [her attacker] had done this before and he would do it again", adding: "We had to stop him".

It comes as new research by the charity Rape Crisis England and Wales found a third of all trials were postponed at least once in 2024 - up from one in 10 in 2015.

Ms Loughman, 36, who has chosen to waive her right to anonymity, said hearing that her first court date had been pulled left her "devastated" but that she was determined to keep fighting a "system that is constructed to dismiss you".

She said she also learned that after the first delay, her attacker was repeatedly breaching his bail conditions.

"He could have been anywhere," she said.

The second delay came after Ms Loughman received a message from police saying the trial was "all clear" to go ahead, only for the case to be withdrawn again eight hours later with no explanation.

Ms Loughman told Newsnight she became "a shadow" of herself, suffering nightmares, flashbacks and acute post-traumatic stress disorder that caused severe vomiting episodes.

"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," she said.

Rape Crisis England and Wales said the widespread delays in the justice system it found as part of its research were a "direct cause of retraumatisation" for victims and left more women and girls at risk of violence and abuse.

Justice Minister Sarah Sackman told Newsnight that the situation was "absolutely unacceptable" and acknowledged that the criminal courts were "in a state of crisis", but added that the government was working to expand courtroom capacity and recruit more staff across the system.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," she said.

Ministry of Justice data shows that the Crown Court backlog has hit record highs, with more than 78,000 open cases as of June 2025.

With her attacker finally convicted, Ms Loughman said she was only now beginning to rebuild her life.

"It's only now that he has been convicted that I can start to feel like myself again," she said.

"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."

If you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, help and support is available at BBC Action Line.