CPS News Brief

CPS celebrates December's 'Successes of the Month'

The CPS is celebrating the outstanding work of teams and individuals up and down the country by publishing their stories on the CPS website.

In our 'Successes of the Month', we congratulate those colleagues who have gone beyond the call of duty or who have made a real contribution to their communities by working hard to see justice done.

This month CPS North West created an educational DVD for children aged 11-16 on disability hate crime, CPS London went the extra mile to secure conviction in an historic indecent assault case, and CPS West Midlands secured justice for a victim with severe dyslexia.

CPS strongly supporting FA's new Kick It Out film tackling anti-Semitism in football

Nick Hawkins, lead on football matters for the Crown Prosecution Service, attended the launch today of the Football Association’s new Kick it Out film tackling anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish abuse in football, featuring Frank Lampard, Ledley King and Kieran Gibbs.

The film, entitled The Y-Word, has been written and produced by David and Ivor Baddiel, in conjunction with Kick It Out, football’s equality and inclusion campaign, Maccabi GB, Community Security Trust, The Shoresh Foundation and Fahrenheit Films.

The minute-long film explores the use of the word ‘Yid’ by football supporters. Nick, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wessex, said:

“The CPS condemns any form of racism and anti-Semitism and we are strongly supporting Kick it Out in its action to eradicate anti-Semitism in football.

“Our football prosecutors, working with the police, will prosecute robustly anyone committing this type of criminal activities where we have sufficient evidence to do so. Families watching a football game should enjoy singing chants during a match but should not be offended insulted or feel threatened by these chants.”

CPS Update - Friday 8 April

There has been some media coverage of offensive football chants about Emmanuel Adebayor that says we did not consider the chants to be racist. This is not the correct position. Nick Hawkins, Crown Prosecution Service lead on football matters, said:

“The CPS has never been asked by the police to make a decision on whether to charge anyone for these chants, which are clearly offensive and have no place in football. The CPS can only make a charging decision if a complaint is made to the police, and if they then decide to investigate.

“Approximately a year ago the CPS was informally asked by the police on a theoretical basis whether it might be possible to prosecute the people who made these chants if a formal complaint was made. In the absence of a file of evidence, we said, hypothetically, that it might be difficult to prove the racist element of the offence to the necessary standard for a realistic prospect of a conviction in a criminal court.

“If a police force investigates these chants and passes the evidence to us, then we will of course make a considered charging decision based on the evidence uncovered by the investigation.”

First prosecution for stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation

Updated: Five men have now been charged with stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, in the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came into force in March 2010.

Ihjaz Ali, 41, Mehboob Hussain, 44, and Umar Javed, 38, were charged today at Derby Magistrates’ Court with stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Two other men, Razwan Javed, 30, and Kabir Ahmed, 27, were charged with the same offence yesterday. Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Sue Hemming said:

“We authorised Derbyshire Police to charge these men with offences of distributing threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. The charges relate to the distribution of a leaflet, ‘The Death Penalty?’, outside the Jamia Mosque in Derby in July 2010 and through letterboxes during the same month.

“This is the first ever prosecution for this offence and it is the result of close working between the Crown Prosecution Service and Derbyshire Police.

“Following complaints from the public, Derbyshire Police mounted a thorough investigation. We have carefully reviewed the evidence provided by the police and are satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge these men.”

The five men will appear together at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 14 February.

It is an offence under section 29C (1) of the Public Order Act 1986 to distribute threatening written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.

For more information on this offence, see our legal guidance.

CPS Update- Friday 21 January 2011

CPS statement on men accused of burning a copy of the Qu'ran in Gateshead:

Northumbria Chief Crown Prosecutor Wendy Williams said: “This was a serious incident which the vast majority people will rightly find repugnant. However, no matter how unacceptable people may find such behaviour, we can only prosecute if there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. This case has been subject to a very careful, detailed review. Northumbria Police carried out a thorough investigation and we have taken very great care to consider all the facts in this case.

“The initial focus of the case was on the identity of the person who recorded the incident and posted it online, but it was not possible to identify who this was. Without knowing who it was, we cannot start a prosecution for the publicity of the video.

“We then looked to see whether we could prosecute any of the participants in the actual burning of the Qur’an for an offence of stirring up religious hatred. This offence requires proof that threatening behaviour was used, and there was no evidence which we could use to prove that. “We also looked at a religiously aggravated public order offence. For a case to go ahead, it would be necessary to prove that this act took place within the sight or hearing of anyone likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. The individuals involved claimed they did not intend to offend anyone and the incident took place in the back yard of a pub and was seen by very few people at the time. There was no evidence to say that anyone present at the time was upset or was likely to be upset by what they saw.

 “For these reasons we have decided that no one should be prosecuted for an offence arising out of this incident, based on the evidence provided to us. If any further evidence comes to light and is sent to us, we will look at it.

“I must stress that our policy is to prosecute racist and religious crime fairly, firmly and robustly, but this can be done only in cases where there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.”