Nearly FIFTY Rape And Sex Attack Cases Have Been Halted In Just Two Months After Evidence Was Withheld From Defence

Outgoing UK CPS chief Alison Saunders admits her department's rampant misandry and major issue of withholding evidence from male litigants has been going on
even before her time for years!

By Richard Spillett: The head of the CPS has apologised again after nearly 50 sex case prosecutions were stopped because vital evidence was withheld from defence lawyers. 

A nation-wide review was launched earlier this year after a series of rape cases collapsed in quick succession when it emerged that police and prosecutors had failed to pass key information to lawyers representing the men accused.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed today that issues with disclosure have now been identified in 47 cases in England and Wales following a review in January and February.

Alison Saunders, whose controversy-dogged time at the CPS is due to end in October, apologised for her organisation's failings when she was grilled by MPs on the Justice Committee today.

The committee's chairman Robert Neill MP told her: 'You've been director since 2013. Since 2013 the Lord Leveson review of efficiency said that there was a major issue of failure to meet disclosure deadlines for both the police and the CPS.

'Mr Horwell QC 2017 it was said that disclosure problems have blighted the criminal justice system for too long and the joint inspectorate report alerted to extensive issues and they said it's nothing new.

'What has happened on your watch? Why did it take high profile cases for it to get some attention?'

Ms Saunders insisted disclosure of evidence was not only a problem during her time as director, but admitted: 'I would accept now that we've been reacting too late in the process.' 

She added: 'I feel every single failure. It's not something that we want. We have been very clear about where our failings are. We will apologise for those.'

The stopped cases revealed today included five where disclosure was the primary reason why the case had to be stopped. 

In the remaining 42 cases there were additional reasons including communications data such as text messages, emails and social media being examined too late; or new evidence emerging after charge.

A total of 14 defendants were being held in custody at the time the decision was made to stop their cases.

It comes amid growing anger over a failure to divulge potentially crucial information to defence lawyers ahead of trials. 

In December and January a string of rape cases collapsed when it emerged that vital evidence had not been handed over.

The trial of Liam Allan was halted at Croydon Crown Court on December 14, and the prosecution of Isaac Itiary collapsed at Inner London Crown Court a few days later.

The following month the case against Samson Makele, 28, was halted at Snaresbrook Crown Court after his defence team unearthed key images from his mobile phone which had not previously been made available.

And Oxford student Oliver Mears, who had spent two years on bail, had the case against him dropped days before he was due to go on trial.

This sparked a national review by prosecutors of all live rape and serious sexual assault cases to see how many were affected by the same issues.

Other cases have been hit since the review began. Two weeks ago, parliamentary aide Richard Holden blasted an 'appalling' police investigation after he was cleared of groping a Westminster colleague.

Today, he insisted the cases stopped by the review were just the 'tip of the iceberg'.

Mr Holden tweeted: 'What about all the cases, like mine, where police just didn't pursue 'reasonable lines of inquiry' to get evidence?'

The CPS said a total of 3,637 were reviewed.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Prior, Disclosure Lead for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said: 'We've got to realise that this is about real people.

'Whether that is a person reporting a matter to us, whether it be a person as a witness, or whether it be somebody accused of an offence. That's incredibly traumatic, whatever aspect you look at.

'We've got to get disclosure right. We cannot allow mistakes to impact so greatly on people's lives as has been played out in the media over the past few months.

'Our whole criminal justice system is based on fairness - fairness of investigations, fair trials and we have to strive and provide that for all the people who come into the criminal justice system. We have got it wrong in too many cases.' 

Gregor McGill, CPS director of legal services, refused to say if any lawyers are facing disciplinary action over the stopped cases, while Mr Prior said for officers or police staff it would be a matter for individual forces.

When asked about potential compensation claims, Mr McGill said 'Just because a case has been stopped doesn't necessarily mean that anyone is at fault'.

Edited by AA

Source