Stephen Pollard

against Dr Dhanuson Dharmasena and Hasan Mohamed were baseless. Dr Dharmasena and Mr Mohamed were accused of mutilating a mother after delivering her baby. But as the judge said at the trial, Dr Dharmasena had in fact saved her life. He had sutured her with a single stitch to stop her bleeding from an incision because she had previously been subjected to FGM in her native Somalia.

To date the CPS under Ms Saunders has bought three prosecutions for FGM. Each has collapsed.

The CPS’s handling of the abuse allegations against Labour politician Lord Janner pushed the definition of incompetence to new depths, first announcing in 2015 that he was unfit to stand trial as a result of his dementia, a decision that was then overturned two months later after an independent review.

When a judge then found that Lord Janner was indeed unfit, a so-called “trial of the facts” was ordered, which was only stopped when he died. Ms Saunders had to apologise, saying it was “a matter of sincere regret” that the allegations would never be put to a jury.

Then there was the grotesque waste of more than £20 million on Operation Elveden, a giant fishing expedition against journalists

SOME spent years on bail without being told their fate while Ms Saunders could not even bring herself to apologise for her appalling misjudgment. All she had to say afterwards was: “I’m not here to make popular decisions.” And then there was the now notorious Operation Midland: an investigation designed to prosecute members of a Westminster paedophile ring that only ever existed in the mind of the fantasist who concocted the story.

The lives of honourable and upstanding public servants such as Lord Brittan, a former home secretary, and Lord Bramall, a former chief of the defence staff, were ruined. Harvey Proctor, the former MP, was accused of vile crimes. And there was not a shred of evidence to stand up any of the allegations. And you’ll recall the raid on Sir Cliff Richard’s house with BBC cameras there to record it all.

Instead of upholding the fundamental basis of our justice system – that we are all innocent until our guilt is proved – Ms Saunders has called a press conference in advance of a trial as if guilt was for her, rather than a jury, to determine.

Ms Saunders leaves her post with her reputation in tatters but entirely unrepentant. Speaking on Monday she offered not a word of apology to any of the victims of her tenure as DPP. Indeed she dismissed criticism of her performance as “insulting”. The question now is what happens next. Ms Saunders was the first DPP to have been appointed from within the Crown Prosecution Service. That is an experiment which should not be repeated. An outsider is needed who can transform the culture of the CPS and restore its professional pride and reputation.

That will not be easy, the damage done by Ms Saunders’s tenure as DPP is huge. But it is vital.

‘She has caused misery to innocent people’