CPS found guilty of 'hostile' racial bias

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been found guilty of racial discrimination for the third time in less than a year, and the Commission for Racial Equality has reacted by calling for an immediate investigation.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been found guilty of racial discrimination for the third time in less than a year, and the Commission for Racial Equality has reacted by calling for an immediate investigation.

In a ruling published yesterday, the South London Employment Tribunal found that the CPS management had "engaged in a hostile treatment" of a senior Crown prosecutor, Maria Bamieh, that could only have been influenced by her "ethnicity and gender".

After Ms Bamieh and another Crown prosecutor, Neeta Amin, each won a similar case against the service earlier this year, the commission informed the chief executive of the service that it was considering a formal investigation into the treatment of ethnic minority staff at the CPS.

The commission will make a final decision next month.