Prosecutors ‘losing heart’ with police over botched criminal case files, report finds

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Police case files are under further scrutiny
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Police officers are producing substandard case files and failing to hand over key evidence to lawyers which risks miscarriages of justice, a report has found.  

An investigation by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate delivered a damning report in January on serious failings in the disclosure system, which enables lawyers to properly prepare for a trial.  

The watchdog found “much room for improvement”, with prosecutors and experienced police officers overstretched due to dwinding numbers leading to incomplete case files and incorrect charging decisions.  

In a follow-up inspection, inspectors found initial signs of improvement have tailed off, with prosecutors at risk of “losing heart” with police officers who are failing to deliver.  

“Across most measures, the police’s compliance with requirements has declined”, the inspectorate concluded.  

“The service the police provides to the CPS – especially identifying what is and is not disclosable unused material, providing an adequate report on it to the prosecutor to make a decision at charge, and providing complete and accurate disclosure schedules post-charge – is key to allowing the prosecutor to undertake an effective review and deal properly with disclosure.”

The inspection, which reviewed a selection of cases prior to the start of the pandemic, found almost half of the police files fell short of expected standards when a decision had to be made on charging a suspect.  

In the assessment of police paperwork after charges had been brought, 251 of the 280 cases “fell below the required standard in one or more aspects”.  

The inspector also noted that CPS lawyers are increasingly failing to give feedback to police officers when problems have been identified.  

“We have noted that the level of feedback from prosecutors to the police is decreasing”, the report said.  

“This may be a sign of fatigue or prosecutors beginning to lose heart that no matter how much they feedback, there are few signs of improvement.”

Problems within the disclosure process shot to prominence following the collapse of a series of rape trials in 2017.  

Key evidence which undermined prosecutions was not being handed to defence lawyers, with vast swathes of unused evidence emerging late in the day or not at all.  

The inspectorate is conducting a separate review of the handling of rape cases.  

Responding to the report findings, Criminal Bar Association chair James Mulholland QC said: “Steps taken by the police two years ago pointed to a better direction of travel when they were further assessed a year ago on their disclosure processes.

“This latest HMCPSI report is sadly a case of one step forward and two steps back in several key areas, particularly, around the vital issue of whether the police have correctly identified unused material which may assist the defence both pre and post charge.  

“This goes to the heart of a fair justice system and leads to possible miscarriages of justice.”

The inspector included case studies in its report, including the prosecution of a suspected cannabis farmer.  

When charged, the prosecutor failed to tell the investigating officer what was needed from the defendant’s phone, which contained “damning evidence” that only emerged two weeks before trial.  

In a second case, a man who stood trial accused of burglary despite DNA analysis seriously undermining the whole case. He was acquitted when the judge ordered to find him not guilty halfway through the case.  

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