BRITAIN’S most senior police officer today accused the Crown Prosecution Service of failing victims of crime by “cherry-picking” easy cases to boost conviction rates instead of taking more suspects to court.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he believed that prosecutors “were not taking on the harder cases” and that a “big effort” was needed to reform the justice system to “let juries and magistrates decide” on suspects’ guilt “rather than lawyers in advance”.
In a further swipe, he warned that prosecutors were also adding to the risk of domestic abuse victims giving up on cases because Covid-style working practices were preventing rapid charging decisions from being taken.
Sir Mark’s comments, which he admitted would be “contentious”, came during an interview with the Evening Standard in which he insisted that his force, which is still reeling from a series of scandals, was making progress in improving the protection of women and girls in the capital.
He said that prosecutions for rape, other serious sexual offending and charging were all up and that his force would soon have completed a list of the 100 most dangerous predatory men in London so that they can be targeted and taken off the streets.
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