CPS News Brief

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.

Statement on Gregory Allnutt

Gregory Allnutt from South East London was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court for attempting to evade over £420,000 of Value Added Tax (VAT) due on goods sold online.

Mhairi Urquhart, Senior Lawyer in the CPS Central Fraud Group said:

“Gregory Allnutt knew he was liable to pay VAT when he set up as a retailer of nutritional products. He soon worked out that he could make a lot more money selling electrical goods through ebay, and despite knowing that he was still liable to pay VAT when he did this, he instead pocketed £429,337 that was due to HMRC. “As a result of the efficient investigation and prosecution of this case, Allnutt pleaded guilty to all 12 charges of fraudulent evasion of tax, pleas which meant he recognised the strength of the case against him.”

Diary - week of 28 November

Monday

• Michael Sexton and Richard Smith face trial at Bristol Crown Court accused of the murder of Keith Soons.

Thursday

• First appearance at Corby Magistrates' Court of Bobby and Moira Roberts, charged with causing Anne the elephant unnecessary suffering, failing to take reasonable steps to prevent an employee from causing unnecessary suffering, and failing to ensure the elephant's needs were met.

Friday

• Hearing at Oxford Crown Court for Ensar Gol, accused of the murder of his wife and mother-in-law.
• Brian Dodgeon faces sentence at Isleworth Crown Court after he admitted possessing Class A drugs at his home where a schoolgirl died during a party.

 

Statement on Curtis Warren

The Crown Prosecution Service has applied to the High Court for a Serious Crime Prevention Order in respect of Curtis Warren. A hearing is expected in early December and Mr Warren, who is legally represented, has the right to oppose the application for the order. The aim of a Serious Crime Prevention Order is to prevent, disrupt or reduce a person’s involvement in serious organised crime. If granted, the order would come into force on Mr Warren’s release from prison.

CPS position on evidence in the case of Babar Ahmad

“The CPS had two separate and distinct roles in this case. Firstly, acting on behalf of the USA in the extradition proceedings and secondly as the UK domestic prosecutor.

“In relation to acting on behalf of the USA, the CPS was sent some of the evidence gathered by the US authorities upon which a prime facie case was argued, as is normal procedure in extradition matters. We were never in possession of all the US evidence and have never claimed otherwise. In accordance with established working practices, this evidence could only be used and considered for the purpose of the extradition and not for any other process. The CPS extradition unit can not and does not share information as it is bound by a duty of confidentiality.

“In relation to our role acting as domestic prosecutor, the CPS was sent some evidence obtained by UK police and we advised in relation to that. It is not the role of the CPS to carry out investigations but rather to consider evidence provided by the police. At the time this advice was given, domestic prosecutors were aware of the nature of the evidence in the possession of the US but the material was never subject to review in this country as it forms part of the case built by the US.

“The CPS, in its domestic role, would not be party to evidence from a country requesting extradition and we have never said otherwise.”

Letter to the Daily Mail from CPS about the Chris Huhne case

A question raised by Simon Heffer in the Daily Mail, about the length of time it was taking to reach a decision in the Chris Huhne case, has been clarified by Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, whose letter below was printed in today’s edition of the Daily Mail.

To answer Simon Heffer’s question about Chris Huhne, the CPS is waiting for further evidence to be provided before we are able to make a decision on whether there should be a prosecution. A court order was sought requesting this evidence from a newspaper but is currently being contested by that newspaper. Until this issue is resolved, we cannot make a decision.

It is the role of the CPS to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to go to court - that there is a realistic prospect of conviction – and it is in the public interest. It would be wrong for cases to go to court where there is not enough evidence. Where there is sufficient evidence we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians, as the recent parliamentary expenses cases demonstrate.

Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, CPS

Letter to the Guardian from CPS about Fortnum and Mason protestors

A letter in the Guardian was misleading about the nature of the recent prosecutions against protestors at Fortnum and Mason. This was clarified by Alison Saunders, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, whose letter below was printed in today’s edition of the Guardian.

Far from being prosecuted for being "merely present" in Fortnum and Mason (Letters, 21 November), the 10 protesters convicted for aggravated trespass were those considered to be most culpable of disrupting the legitimate business of the store and intimidating staff and shoppers. In fact, proceedings against another 109 protesters were discontinued as not in the public interest. Professor Bridges has picked the wrong example if he wants to illustrate the use of "joint enterprise" as a legal concept.

Alison Saunders Chief crown prosecutor, CPS London

The DPP on Radio 5 Live talking about digitising the Criminal Justice System

Responding to an anonymous London defence barrister on Radio 5 Live this morning, who raised concerns about not being provided with a hard copy of his 50,000-page case file, the DPP, Keir Starmer QC said:

“We are, across the Criminal Justice System and particularly in the CPS, moving from a paper based system to the digital file. Your case is obviously one …we do about a million cases a year, there are hundreds of millions of pages of evidence moved around the country, copied to every court in the country every day. It’s a hugely inefficient exercise. Almost every other profession, almost every business has moved to a digital way of working long, long ago.

“What we’re doing in our big cases is serving material digitally, I’d much rather serve a CD with fifty thousand pages on it so that someone can look at it in a digital way than serve fifty thousand pages as a bundle, copied many times and shipped round London in a lorry. So I don’t apologise for trying to move in to the twenty first century, we’ve arrived a little bit late.

“This, it seems to me, is the modern way of prosecuting and frankly the sooner we get to the digital file and work in the same way that everybody else works the better. There will be some bumps along the way and I do understand the concerns you may have but I’m afraid this is part of an agenda to modernise Criminal Justice and I’m an advocate of that.”

The DPP Keir Starmer QC, spoke to Victoria Derbyshire on Radio 5 Live this morning about prosecutions for offences of violence against women.

Here are a few extracts of what he said:

Commenting on the increase in successful prosecutions for offences of violence against women and girls, the DPP, Keir Starmer said: “In the last five years we’ve done a lot of work in relation to violence against women. We’ve issued a lot of new guidance. We’ve specially trained our prosecutors and we’ve worked with the Police and others to try and make sure that we can bring these cases more successfully. So those figures are pleasing in that there is that increase.

“I add this caveat, I, don’t want to complacent here, I think there is more that we need to do and this is an area where people have to have confidence to come forward. So I’m pleased with the figures. They show, I think, that what we’ve done is beginning to pay off.”

And discussing the difficulties inherent in prosecuting cases of rape, the DPP said: “Many victims are vulnerable or in vulnerable situations, that’s often why they’ve been offended against in the first place. There are huge barriers about coming forward. There’s obviously whether people have confidence in the Criminal Justice System but it’s much, much more than that. It is very difficult, having myself spoken to a number of rape victims, for them even to come forward to their family.
It’s a very difficult step to take.
If they do take that step there are a number of myths and stereotypes that they confront about behaviours which we’ve been trying to deal with but I don’t think we’ve seen the back of yet.

“And typical amongst those are you would have reported this straight away if there had really been a rape. We know that’s not right but that was something which was perpetrated as a perfectly sensible suggestion for many, many years.

“Or, for example, that if you’d really been subjected to a rape you’d probably have injuries. Again that’s not actually right but these have been there for a very, very long time along with other stereotypes such as if you’ve been out drinking and you’ve been enjoying the night that somehow you’ve foregone your right not be raped.

“So I can see why, if you put all of that together, it is very difficult and, not least is the fact that in some but not all of these cases, in the end the issue is consent and that often means it’s for a jury to determine what happened in private between two individuals when there may not be much supporting evidence either way.

“That doesn’t happen in many offences – there are not many offences where consent is the issue. So I think for all those reasons it is difficult to get the figures for rape in the same place as they are for other offences but we are heading in the right direction and I think with more work we can bring more successful prosecutions.”

To read the press release and full report on the latest statistics on offences of violence against women go to the CPS website.

Man charged with kidnap and sexual assault of a 10 year-old child

West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has authorised officers from West Midlands Police to charge Michael Jackson, aged 49, from Oldbury, West Midlands with the kidnap and sexual assault of a 10 year-old child in Oldbury on Sunday 13 November 2011.

Emma Garnett, Senior Crown Prosecutor from West Midlands CPS said:

“Having carefully examined all of the available information which was submitted to me by the police, I have decided that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Michael Jackson with one count each of kidnap, false imprisonment, threats to kill and sexual assault.

“I have also authorised the police to charge him with one further count of child abduction which is in connection with a separate incident involving an 11 year-old child.”

Mr Jackson will be appearing before Warley Magistrates' Court in the morning, Wednesday 16th November 2011.

Statement about the discontinuance of the case of Mohammed Iqbal Memon

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) keeps cases under continuous review. Following a review of the evidence in this case, a decision to discontinue these charges has been taken because the evidence received was not enough to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. If more significant evidence or information is discovered at a later date the decision to discontinue may be reconsidered.

CPS begin confiscation proceedings

Matthew Wagstaff Deputy Head of the Central Fraud Group at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said:

“Jaroslav Bado, Darina Balogova, and Marek Balog have been convicted and jailed for conspiracy to commit tax credit fraud and launder the proceeds by submitting 153 fraudulent benefit claims, using 37 different identities. The prosecution case was that a large number of Slovakian women were brought over to the Chatham area of Kent, bringing with them passports and birth certificates for themselves and their children. Once National Insurance numbers and Tax Credits had been set up to be paid into newly opened bank accounts, the women then disappeared, perhaps back to Slovakia.

“The claims lasted from 2005 to 2010 and a large number of incriminating documents were found on a roof adjacent to Balog and Balogova’s marital home. The court also heard that Balogova used an account connected to the fraud to pay for her subscription to Sky and Balog used another to pay his car insurance.

“This was a brazen scam which has defrauded the British taxpayer of funds intended for the most vulnerable in our society. The CPS has now begun confiscation proceedings with a view to recovering the money pocketed by these defendants, believed to be at least £684,000 in order to re-imburse the public purse as far as possible.”