CPS News Brief

Diary - week of 12 December

Monday 12 December

• Trial at Manchester Crown Court of Steven Malcolm and Jennifer Green, accused of blackmailing Wayne and Colleen Rooney. The trial is expected to last three days.

• Bournemouth Magistrates' Court hearing of case of Michael Brewin, accused of dangerous cycling.

Thursday 15 December

• Hearing at Southwark Crown Court of case of former Labour MP Margaret Moran, who is charged with fraud.

• First appearance at Bristol Magistrates' Court of 10 members of staff from Winterbourne Care Home, charged with ill treatment under the Mental Capacity Act.

Friday 16 December

• David Burgess, appears at Reading Crown Court charged with the murder of Yolande Waddington in Beenham in October 1966.

Letter to Sir Hugh Orde from the DPP on Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station Protest

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has written to Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, following the inquiry by Sir Christopher Rose into the Radcliffe-on-Soar power station protests.

The letter says:

As you are aware I commissioned Sir Christopher Rose to undertake an independent inquiry into the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station protest and the involvement of an undercover police officer. The terms of reference of the inquiry were set out in a written statement by the Solicitor General to the House of Commons on 13 July 2011.

Sir Christopher has now completed the inquiry and a copy of the final report is enclosed. It is to be published on Tuesday 6 December 2011 and is sent to you in strict confidence until publication. I am content that Sir Christopher conducted a thorough inquiry. He also provided the report to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for comment.

Although the report concludes “the failures were individual, not systemic and not due to any want of printed guidance,” I am taking steps to ensure that the situation does not recur.

One of the most important lessons to be learnt from the report is that there needs to be a full and frank exchange between prosecutors and investigators at an early stage of a case if prosecution is contemplated where an undercover police officer has been deployed. In effect, this is a re-statement of the principle in the Disclosure Manual which says: ‘Where a police investigation resulting in a prosecution has been informed by intelligence from a human source, the police should always inform the prosecutor of this fact without the need for any request to be made. This fact should be revealed as soon as possible’.

As is further made clear in the Manual, this exchange need not, in many cases, extend to the real identity of the undercover officer, but is likely to include such matters as authorisations, intelligence reports, notes and any covert recordings and transcripts. Only by taking a careful view of such matters will the CPS be able to make proper decisions about prosecution, and here I refer not only to decisions to prosecute, but also to those cases where a proper consideration of the role of an undercover officer means that a prosecution cannot be commenced in the interests of the safety of the officer and/or the risk of exposing covert techniques. Clearly, if a prosecution follows, only by ensuring that we abide by these principles can the prosecution team comply with its obligations on disclosure.

To avoid any recurrence of similar issues, I propose that a police/CPS memorandum of understanding be prepared that makes it absolutely clear that in any future cases, the full extent of any authorisation and activity of an undercover officer must be shared between the police and the CPS as soon as a criminal prosecution is contemplated.

I would be very grateful for your support on this and would welcome early discussion.

     Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions

 

Two men charged with sexual offences against former pupils

On the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), two men have today been charged by police with committing a number of sexual offences against a number of children, more than 40 years ago.

CPS Thames and Chiltern Complex Casework Unit lawyer, Luke Bulpitt, said:

"I have today advised charging Roland Peter Wright, 81, of East Burnham End, Crown Lane, Farnham Royal, with seven counts of incitement to commit gross indecency and 18 counts of indecent assault.

"I have also advised charging Hugh Henry, 80, of Pomeroy Close, Amersham, with two counts of incitement to commit gross indecency and eight counts of indecent assault.

"This case involves sexual assaults allegedly committed by the two men, who were teachers, against 12 victims, all young boys at Caldicott Preparatory School, Farnham Royal, in Buckinghamshire, between 1959 and 1970."

Wright and Henry are due to appear at Aylesbury Magistrates’ Court on 21 December 2011.

CPS authorises charging of barrister following HMRC investigation

George Barbary, Specialist Fraud Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

“I have authorised the charging of Andrew Charles Rowland Hill with a single offence of cheating the public revenue following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs. The allegation relates to Andrew Hill having charged and been paid Value Added Tax (VAT) on services which he provided whilst practising as a barrister and then failing to declare or pass on to HM Revenue and Customs those payments of tax. The alleged offence spans a period of almost seven years and involves an estimated loss of around £290,000.

“The decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

“He will appear at City of London Magistrates on 12 December 2011.”

CPS use of tablet devices

Stories that the CPS will be using Hewlett-Packard tablet devices costing £1000 each are not correct as no decision has been made on a supplier. The CPS is conducting commercial discussions with a view to introducing tablet devices as part of its Transforming Through Technology programme. No funding has yet been allocated whilst the commercial discussions continue.