Every rape and serious sex assault case in England and Wales being reviewed after collapse of trials, CPS reveals

CPS: All rape and serious sexual assault cases in England and Wales are being reviewed
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Hatty Collier27 January 2018
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Every current rape and serious sexual assault case in England and Wales are to be reviewed following the collapse of several high-profile trials in recent weeks, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Alison Saunders, the direction of public prosecutions, said cases were being reviewed “as a matter of urgency” to ensure evidence had been disclosed.

She added that the review could see “a number of cases dropped” and that the increased use of social media and text messaging brought challenges to parts of the criminal justice system that must be dealt with.

It comes after Ms Saunders, the country’s top prosecutor, warned in an interview with the Standard that suspects could escape charges if rape complainants stayed silent during attacks.

She argued that men in such cases could have had a “reasonable belief” that they had been given consent.

‘We want to get it right. Prosecutors feel this, they know they are dealing with people’s lives’: DPP Alison Saunders

The Crown Prosecution Service, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing have announced an “improvement plan” to tackle problems with disclosure.

The document commits to reviewing whether there "should be a requirement for officers to hold a Licence to Practise in respect of disclosure" by January 2019.

It comes after string of defendants facing rape allegations had the charges against them dropped when critical evidence emerged at the 11th hour.

Last week, a rape charge against Oxford University student Oliver Mears was dropped just before his trial after a diary which supported his case was discovered. He had been on bail for two years.

In December, the trial of Londoner Liam Allan, who faced 12 counts of rape and sexual assault, was dropped when evidence emerged of messages from the alleged victim pestering him for "casual sex."

The case against Liam Allan was dropped
Sky News

Ms Saunders said: "Changes in society, such as the vastly increasing use of social media and mobile phone messaging, bring challenges that all parts of the criminal justice system, despite the resourcing challenges, must deal with."

"We are taking steps to identify any individual cases of concern as a matter of urgency."

She added: “Inevitably, bringing forward these case reviews means it is likely that there may be a number of cases which we will be stopping at around the same time."

The collapsed cases have rocked confidence in the criminal justice system and Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC said there was a "substantial problem" with how the disclosure regime was being followed.

In the lead-up to trials, police and prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material that either undermines the prosecution case or assists the defence case.

Mr Wright said disclosure was "basic stuff", but that he did not believe there was evidence of "widespread malpractice or dishonesty".

He said he had encouraged the Ms Saunders, to look at similar cases to ensure no more mistakes are being made.

But asked by John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4's Today programme if a lack of police and CPS resources was behind the failings, Mr Wright said: "That's not true. Let me simply say this to you - in relation to the Crown Prosecution Service, the number of specialist prosecutors who deal with rape and sexual offences have increased by 40 per cent since 2015.

"What we are talking about here is those people doing the job they are expected to do and following the disclosure regime properly - that's what we should all expect them to do."

He said he recognised the justice system was in a "new world" as a result of the often "large volume" of digital evidence, such as social media messages, and he had initiated a review into the wider disclosure regime.

But pressed again on whether cuts to the criminal justice system, such as to legal aid, were a factor, Mr Wright said: "I think it would be wrong to reduce this to an argument about resources - I think it's much more fundamental than that.

"Of course it's a factor and you have got make sure they are people who are doing the work, but once you've got them they need to know what they are doing and they need to do it properly.

"The failings in these cases have not been because there wasn't a police officer and there wasn't a prosecutor, it's because they didn't appear to be applying the regime they are expected to apply in conducting disclosure properly."

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