Police and CPS still failing to disclose evidence

A review by the attorney general has found Prosecutors and police are routinely failing in their duties to disclose crucial evidence leading to cases being pursued that should have been dropped.

 

Geoffrey Cox presented a report which calls for a culture of zero tolerance in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police forces of failures to pass over relevant material during investigations.

 

The review said, the duty to record, retain and review material collected during the course of inquiries was not routinely being complied with by police and prosecutors.

 

"At the least this caused costly delays for the justice system and at worst it meant that cases were being pursued which the evidence did not support," the report noted. "The impact of these failings caused untold damage to those making allegations and those accused of them."

 

The report was commissioned after the collapse of a series of rape cases in which material from mobile phones was on latterly released which subsequently undermined confidence in the criminal justice system.

 

The CPS subsequently revealed that 47 rape, or sexual offence cases, had been halted as a result of evidence not been properly shared with the defence.

 

The report suggested investigators had a duty to conduct a thorough investigation. To manage all material appropriately and pursue all realistic lines of inquiry regardless of whether they incriminated the suspect or refuted the claims.

 

Cox said: "For too long disclosure has been seen as an administrative add-on rather than fundamental pillar of our justice system. This ends now. My review sets out practical recommendations and a clear plan of action to which I will hold the leaders of the criminal justice system to account for delivering in their respective areas.

 

"I am confident that the leaders of the police and prosecution now understand the need for change, and together we will make sure that public confidence in the disclosure system is restored."

 

Nick Hurd, the Policing Minister, said: "Disclosure of evidence is crucial for confidence in police and our criminal justice system. Police leaders have recognised there needs to be a change in culture towards disclosure and I'm pleased to see they are already making strides in this area through the national disclosure improvement plan."

 

"It is clear that investigators and prosecutors are facing an unprecedented challenge in dealing with the ever-increasing amount of digital material presented to them," the report acknowledged.

 

"The average mobile phone today is capable of holding the data equivalent of about 5 million A4 pages. The average human reader working a 40-hour week would take 40 years to read all that content.

 

"New technology-based methods such as artificial intelligence, it accepted, were required "because [data] growth is outpacing human capacity to handle it".

 

Emily Bolton, legal director of the charity Centre for Criminal Appeals, criticised the report: "While [it] accepts there are serious problems that need fixing, it ignores the plight of those who are already wrongly imprisoned because of police and prosecutors failing to disclose key evidence.

 

"The attorney general failed to address issues with the law that currently governs access to evidence after conviction, which means it is almost impossible for the innocent to access justice."

 

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