They are on a list released by Ministers of 62 of the most serious cases where magistrates' records were blank because court officials failed to record the outcome of cases.

Court inspectors rushed to examine the cases because of their seriousness and have concluded all defendants were dealt with properly at Crown Court and did not escape justice.

But the list of crimes – which also includes attempted murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and racially-aggravated assault – prompted fresh questions about what happened during a quarter of a century of failings in record-keeping at the court, where up to 1,200 criminals may have escaped without having their details put on the Police National Computer.

Leeds North West Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland, who obtained the list through Parliamentary questions, renewed his calls for a criminal investigation into the failings, a demand he has made in a letter to West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison.

"The scale and seriousness of the cases involved is truly shocking," Mr Mulholland said.

"It is quite terrifying to think that the results of criminal proceedings including for rape and murder were missing.

"Yet this list only scratches the surface; there are over 1,500 offences... where we still don't know what happened and even whether those involved were brought to justice for the offences they were charged with.

"There are still a lot of unanswered questions in this whole episode and the terrible fact is, we may never know about all the cases that went unreported."

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said "the failings" at the court had "undermined justice and let down victims of crime" and "proper assurances from the Government that these failings are not more widespread in the court system" were needed.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw condemned the "lamentable" failings and a "systematic covering up of errors" revealed in a report by Her Majesty's Chief In-spector of Courts Administration published earlier this month.

A failure to log court results in hundreds of cases between 1980 and 2004 – mostly after 2001 – meant there were no accurate results of what happened to 2,206 defendants accused of 3,260 offences. To cover up some of the errors false registers were created and some results were even guessed at.

While the outcome in 62 of the most serious offences has been traced, checks continue into whether any of the other offenders have escaped being put on the police database, effectively wiping clear their criminal record.

Blunders also meant up to 555 defendants were either never tried or never served their sent-ence for offences including indecent assault, wounding and burglary after legal advisers – or clerks – withdrew warrants to clear backlogs without the cases being properly considered.

Justice Minister Maria Eagle told Mr Mulholland none of those had yet been brought before court and their cases are currently being reviewed by a Criminal Justice System team in Leeds.

Mr Mulholland said: "We still also need a criminal investigation into this whole matter.

"So far all that has happened in terms of holding people to account is that two individuals are facing internal disciplinary action at Leeds Magistrates' Court. Considering the scale of mismanagement and malpractice, this is not acceptable."

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said work would continue to identify results for the outstanding cases.

"The results of 62 of the most serious offences have already been found and verified – and I can confirm the outcome of cases were appropriately resulted in the Crown Court," she said.

"Her Majesty's Court Service continues to work with the other agencies to seek the missing adjudications and resolve what should happen in relation to the withdrawn warrants."

Leeds criminal lawyer Grahame Stowe said mountains of paperwork put court staff under immense pressure.

"While Leeds Magistrates' Court clearly has some particular questions to answer I expect it is simply being used as a
whipping boy for a criminal
justice system that is creaking under a mountain of red tape."