Little over half of all rape cases brought in London courts end in convictions — the lowest rate in the country, figures reveal today.
The conviction rate in the capital, which had been rising over the previous four years, dropped from 58.5 per cent in 2012 to 51.8 per cent last year.
The next lowest conviction rates were Wessex and the South-East with 56.7 per cent and 57.4 and the highest was Merseyside and Cheshire with 71.8 per cent.
Child abuse conviction rates in London showed a slight fall from 68.5 per cent to 67.7 in 2013 which was balanced by the fractional rise in the domestic violence conviction rate from 63.3 per cent to 63.7 cent.
Labour responded to the figures by accusing the Government of betraying women and children in the capital.
The conviction rate in London for human trafficking cases, which tend to involve women and girls, rose from 61.5 to 75.5 per cent in the same period.
Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry uncovered the figures through Parliamentary questions, asking Attorney General Dominic Grieve to provide the specific statistics.
She said London’s prosecutors were “overstretched” but violence against women and girls was meant to be a priority for the Crown Prosecution Service.
“The conviction rates for violence against women and girls in our capital are the worst in the country,” she said. “The largest and busiest division of the CPS is desperately overstretched. The protection of London’s women and children should be a priority for this Government.”
Ms Thornberry has previously highlighted a London case in June last year when Judge Jeremy Gold threatened to clear a rape defendant after “lamentable failures” of disclosure by the CPS.
Far from being a one-off incident, he said it was a “particularly bad example” of the “wholly shambolic” state of the CPS in London which judges have to experience “on an almost daily basis”. The judge said: “For the defence to be asking formally for basic documents to be served and simply getting no response from the CPS is a lamentable state of affairs.”
London Chief Crown Prosecutor Baljit Ubhey said London’s conviction record was improving.
“CPS London was the most improved CPS area last year and nearly eight in 10 prosecutions in the capital end in conviction,” she said. “This is a testament to the strong planning in place in London and effectively managing a reducing budget.
“These are priority areas for the CPS and measures such as a recently announced review focusing on improving how the CPS and police handle rape cases in London, and a new domestic violence unit will help to ensure that this trend of improvement continues.”
