All rape cases to be reviewed by CPS after collapse of four trials within weeks

Police officers dealing with disclosure of evidence could be required to obtain ‘licence to practise’ under plan to address failings

Alison Saunders said some rape cases could be closed following the review (PA)

All current rape and serious sexual assault cases are to be urgently reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after the collapse of a string of trials due to evidence disclosure failings.

A number of cases could be dropped following the emergency re-examination, warned Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders.

Police officers dealing with the disclosure of evidence could also be required to obtain a “licence to practise” as part of an improvement plan unveiled jointly by the CPS, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing.

Specialist disclosure experts will be posted in every force area as part of efforts to address failings that have rocked confidence in the criminal justice system.

The collapse of four cases within two months sparked serious concerns over arrangements for disclosing crucial evidence to defence teams.

In the lead-up to trials, police and prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material that either undermines the prosecution case or assists the defence case.

But the regime came under sharp focus after defendants facing rape allegations had the charges against them dropped when critical evidence emerged at the eleventh hour.

Earlier this month the prosecution of Oxford University student Oliver Mears collapsed when the CPS said it had received new evidence from Surrey Police. The 19-year-old had spent two years on bail awaiting a trial.

Days earlier, prosecutors had dropped a case against 28-year-old Samson Makele after his lawyers presented photos of him “cuddling” the complainant in bed that undermined her account of an alleged rape in London. His lawyers had previously been denied access to the images and only obtained them days before a scheduled trial.

Surrey Police and the Metropolitan Police each announced reviews of live sexual offence cases after failings emerged.

Ms Saunders said steps were being taken “as a matter of urgency” to identify any further cases of concern across the country.

Senior prosecutors across England and Wales are currently assessing all live rape and serious sexual assault cases to check they are satisfied that disclosure obligations have been met.

“Inevitably, bringing forward these case reviews means it is likely that there may be a number of cases which we will be stopping at around the same time,” said Ms Saunders.

The three bodies’ improvement plan set out proposals to review training on disclosure, develop a cadre of specialist and experienced disclosure experts in every force, and provide all multimedia evidence from the CPS to the defence via direct electronic link by July.

The document also commits to reviewing whether there “should be a requirement for officers to hold a Licence to Practise in respect of disclosure” by January 2019.

Ms Saunders said: “The CPS and police have a vital role in ensuring there is a fair trial process in place to protect the public. Proper disclosure is a fundamental part of this.

“The steps we have already taken, along with the measures we have announced today, are aimed at tackling the deep-rooted and systemic disclosure issues which are of great concern to us all.”

She said changes in society, such as the “vastly increasing” use of social media and mobile phone messaging, “bring challenges that all parts of the criminal justice system, despite the resourcing challenges, must deal with”.

Last week Ms Saunders said she “doesn’t think” innocent people were in prison due to withheld evidence, despite admitting there was a “systemic issue”. But one lawyer said it was “impossible to believe” no one had been wrongly convicted.

The three bodies’ disclosure improvement plan refers to an “explosion” in volume of digital material created in criminal investigations, with “greater strain” being placed on the capacity for lawyers and individual officers.

Chief Constable Nick Ephgrave, the NPCC’s lead for criminal justice, said: “Disclosure is an essential element of the criminal justice process, but has too often been seen as an administrative task completed at the end of an investigation, exacerbated by the rapid expansion of digital material involved in almost every case.

“We now need to firmly embed disclosure in the investigative mindset from the outset of any investigation.

“Reviews of recent cases have shown a range of issues leading to failures but there has been no intention by officers to conceal information.”

He expressed confidence the plan will lead to “real improvements in quick time”.

The Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, said the justice system was in a “new world” as a result of the “large volume” of digital evidence but denied a lack of resources was to blame for failings.

Speaking to John Humphrys on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Wright said: “That’s not true. Let me simply say this to you – in relation to the Crown Prosecution Service, the number of specialist prosecutors who deal with rape and sexual offences has increased by 40 per cent since 2015.

“What we are talking about here is those people doing the job they are expected to do and following the disclosure regime properly – that’s what we should all expect them to do.

“The failings in these cases have not been because there wasn’t a police officer and there wasn’t a prosecutor, it’s because they didn’t appear to be applying the regime they are expected to apply in conducting disclosure properly.”