CPS News Brief

Letter to the Daily Mail concerning coverage on assisted suicide

In an article in Wednesday's newspaper concerning CPS guidelines on assisted suicide, the Daily Mail wrote that the DPP "brought in new guidelines on her own initiative without consulting Parliament or the courts." 

The DPP has written to the newspaper to correct this point:

Dear Sir,

Contrary to your report (DPP’s assisted suicide rules to be challenged, 29 April 2015), I was actually invited by the Supreme Court to make a small clarification to the Crown Prosecution Service’s existing guidelines on assisted suicide in October last year.

The change was a direct result of a Supreme Court judgement. It did not amend the law in any way; assisting or encouraging suicide remains illegal and nothing in the guidelines offers immunity against prosecution.

Yours,

Alison Saunders
Director of Public Prosecutions
London SE1

Two guilty of football match-fixing

Two football players, Moses Swaibu and Delroy Facey, were today convicted at Birmingham Crown Court for their part in a conspiracy to commit bribery by fixing football matches in the Conference Premier Division.

Today’s verdicts follow the earlier convictions of Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan, business men from Singapore, who were central figures in the plot to bribe UK footballers to engineer the results that they needed in order for their associates to win money on bets. A football player by the name of Michael Boateng was also convicted last year for his part in the conspiracy.

Andy Young, specialist prosecutor in the Crown Prosecution Service Organised Crime Division, said:

“Delroy Facey acted as the middleman in this conspiracy, sourcing players who would be willing to fix matches. When he played professional football, he earned good money, being paid over £65,000 in 2010/11. But by the time of his arrest, he was no longer playing professionally and was earning considerably less.

“The jury heard how recordings made by an officer from the National Crime Agency captured Michael Boateng conspiring to give away a penalty to Moses Swaibu, a conversation facilitated by Facey on behalf of the professional fixer Krishna Ganeshan. Swaibu also advises Facey on how to approach fixing, including bribing referees, and on one occasion suggests that a match could be lost by two or three goals.

“These and other recordings provided vital evidence which showed the men had a settled intent to make an agreement about engineering the results of matches, in return for money, a reality.”

Three sentenced in ‘honey trap’ murder of Mehmet Hassan

Kyrron Jackson and Nicholas Chandler were sentenced today to life imprisonment with a minimum of 37 years for the murder of Mehmet Hassan on 24^thMarch 2014. Leonie Granger was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for manslaughter for the part she played in Mr Hassan’s death. All three were also sentenced for conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to falsely imprison. Jackson and Chandler were also sentenced for offences related to an earlier robbery and attempted robbery.

 Baljit Ubhey, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said:

“Mr Hassan was savagely attacked in his own home where he was beaten to death by Kyrron Jackson and Nicholas Chandler.

“Earlier in the evening Granger had met with Mr Hassan and went back to his flat, knowing that she was going to set him up to be robbed by Jackson and Chandler.

“Showing absolutely no remorse for their terrible crime the trio filmed themselves playing with bundles of Mr Hassan’s cash within hours of the murder.

“I hope the sentences today give some small comfort to Mr Hassan’s family. Our thoughts are with them at this time.”

 

Background:

The motive for the attack was to rob Mr Hassan of large amounts of cash which Jackson and Chandler knew Mr Hassan kept in his flat. They knew this because Leonie Granger had befriended Mr Hassan in a casino and had then helped to plan the robbery with Jackson and Chandler.

Granger met with Mr Hassan a number of times and on the night of his death had accompanied him back to his flat in Islington. Jackson and Chandler waited nearby and after Granger left, leaving the way into the flat insecure, they later entered the flat and attacked Mr Hassan.

Convictions:

Kyrron Jackson

First Grosvenor Casino robbery (between 1^st and 13^th January 2014)

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

 

Second Grosvenor Casino robbery (between 14^th January and 10^th February 2014)

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

 

Mehmet Hassan’s murder

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

Murder

 

Nicholas Chandler

First Grosvenor Casino robbery (between 1^st and 13^th January 2014)

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

 

Second Grosvenor Casino robbery (between 14^th January and 10^th February 2014)

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to have a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

 

Mehmet Hassan’s murder

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

Murder

 

Leonie Granger

Mehmet Hassan’s murder

Conspiracy to rob

Conspiracy to falsely imprison

Manslaughter

Andrew Hutchinson jailed after pleading guilty to 27 sexual offences.

On Monday 27^th April Andrew Hutchinson, aged 29, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment at Oxford Crown Court. The sentence was to be extended to allow for a further seven years on licence, which means that he will not be released until he has served at least 12 years of his sentence and then only with the approval of the parole board.

Further sentences were passed for the additional 25 counts – but were ordered to run concurrently to the extended sentence of 18 years which was imposed for the two counts of rape.

This case involved a sustained and prolonged course of sexual offending against a number of girls and women (aged between 9 and 35) in Oxfordshire between 2011 and 2013, by an A&E staff nurse.  Several of his victims were unconscious and receiving medical care, therefore extremely vulnerable.

His offending came to light after his arrest on 4th November 2013, on suspicion of voyeurism in the unisex changing rooms at an Abingdon leisure centre.  Images and films of sex offences being committed, indecent images of children, and images taken up women’s skirts taken at the hospital and in public were recovered on devices seized from him. 

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said:

“Andrew Hutchinson abused his position of trust and took advantage of his circumstances to assault his victims. Many of the victims of the sex offences had been unaware that offences had been committed against them because they were unconscious when they took place.  They only became aware when they were contacted by the police during the course of their investigation.

“The emotional impact on the victims and their families is impossible to quantify.  I hope that the conviction and today’s sentence gives some small comfort to them.  Our thoughts are very much with them all at this time.”

On 30 March 2015, at Oxford Crown Court, Hutchinson pleaded guilty to all 27 counts, including rape, voyeurism, sexual assault, making indecent photographs of children, and theft.

Vladimir Bukovsky to be prosecuted over indecent images of children

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised the prosecution of Vladimir Bukovsky, 72, for five charges of making indecent images of children, five charges of possession of indecent images of children and one charge of possession of a prohibited image.

Jenny Hopkins, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS in the East of England, said:

“Following an investigation by Cambridgeshire Police, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to prosecute Vladimir Bukovsky in relation to the alleged making and possessing of indecent images of children. It is alleged that, collectively, the images meet the definition of categories A, B and C, as defined by Sentencing Council Guidelines.

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

Vladimir Bukovsky has been summonsed to appear at court on the following charges:

• Five counts of making an indecent photograph of a child contrary to section 1(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978, on or before 28 October 2014
• Five counts of possession of indecent photographs of children contrary to section 160 Criminal Justice Act 1988, on or before 28 October 2014
• One count of possessing a prohibited image contrary to section 62 (1) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Ms Hopkins continued:

“Vladimir Bukovsky will appear before Cambridge Magistrates’ Court on 5 May 2015.

“May I remind all concerned that Mr Bukovsky has a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”