Exclusive: Victims of crime given hope as moves to drop cases overturned

The number of occasions where decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to stop criminal proceedings have been reversed since last summer has been described as “concerning” by a leading Leeds solicitor.

In the first five months since the new Victims’ Right To Review scheme was introduced, 592 requests were made for a case to be examined, including 34 in the Yorkshire region.

Of these, the original decision was upheld in 453 cases, but of the 148 cases reviewed where a prosecutor stopped proceedings after a suspect had been charged, 57 were successfully overturned, a rate of 38.5 per cent. Charges were recommended in all these cases.

Charlotte Wright, a solicitor at law firm Kingsley Napley in London, said the fact that overall 13 per cent of decisions subject to review had been overturned was “both surprising and concerning”.

She said: “Where the CPS take a decision not to proceed with a prosecution, a suspect or defendant should be able to rely upon that decision being final, barring exceptional circumstances.”

Victims of crime can now appeal against the decision not to charge when the case is presented to a prosecutor by police or against the decision to discontinue the case having earlier decided to charge and start proceedings.

Figures released to the Yorkshire Post under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the 397 cases where a prosecutor’s decision not to charge was reviewed, only 3.7 per cent were overturned and only two-thirds of these cases, 10 in all, went on to be charged.

Ms Wright said: “One must ask what has been going wrong with decisions to discontinue, and on what terms they have been reviewed, since this seems a very high level of poor decision-making, and it is unfortunate so many defendants were not able to rely upon those decisions.

“This is particularly so since the reversal of a decision to discontinue means that there will have been two changes of mind by the CPS in the life of the case, which from the perspective of a defendant is deeply unsatisfactory.”

She added: “It is encouraging, however, that decisions not to charge appear for the most part to have been correctly made and that those facing charge can generally continue to rely upon a decision not to prosecute.”

Philip Goldberg, a partner at Leeds law firm Lester Morrill, said: “For those decisions to discontinue that have been overturned, a lawyer has seen it, the police officer has presented the evidence and a decision has been taken. That is quite a high overturn rate. If they had all the information then a different decision might have been made. It looks as though the people making these decisions are not perhaps doing as robust a job as they should be doing. It is very concerning a lawyer would discontinue and get it wrong.”

The right to review scheme, when it was launched in June, was described as making it “easier for victims to seek a review of a CPS decision not to bring charges or to terminate proceedings”. Previously, it was possible to seek a judicial review of a decision, but the process was expensive and subject to strict time limits.

In Yorkshire, of the 34 requests received under the scheme between June 5 and October 31, six related to sexual offences, the most common category. Five related to offences against the person and five to criminal damage.

Martin Goldman, Chief Crown Prosecutor for Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “As CPS lead for victims, I feel it is crucially important that victims have confidence in our decision-making. This scheme makes that process completely open and transparent.

“It is a major step forward in addressing the balance of power towards the victim within the criminal justice system. It also holds up every level of our decision-making process to public scrutiny.”

He said the fact that only 34 of the 57,000 cases prosecuted by the CPS in Yorkshire had been appealed “illustrates that the vast majority of victims chose not to exercise their right of review”.

He added: “In cases where we’ve got it wrong we always take the matter extremely seriously and have been quick to take whatever steps necessary to put it right.”

Javed Khan, the chief executive of the charity Victim Support, said: “While it is still early days for the scheme, it is encouraging that nearly 600 people have already taken up the ‘Right to Review’.”