DPP ‘ignored QCs who told her to charge peer’
THE UK’s top prosecutor overruled the advice of two of the country’s most senior barristers to allow Lord Janner to avoid a trial, it emerged last night.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders was encouraged by two aides to charge the Labour peer with historic sex crimes.
Clare Montgomery QC and child abuse expert Eleanor Laws QC, leading counsel to the investigation, offered advice which could have supported a move to prosecute.
In particular, Mrs Laws pointed to overwhelming evidence and corroborating accounts by victims during the two-year police inquiry.
But Mrs Saunders decided it was not in the public interest to put Lord Janner in the dock due to his Alzheimer’s disease.
Campaigners, MPs and victims believe a ‘trial of the facts’ could have satisfied the need to get to the bottom of the appalling claims against the peer, whatever his mental state. Last night, two senior Government figures joined the chorus of disapproval and said concerns over the decision were justified. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said there was something ‘very strange’ about the ruling and Health Minister Norman Lamb said the authorities should examine precedents of dementia sufferers being brought to trial. He added that the matter should be brought before a court because Mrs Saunders and the Crown Prosecution Service had made ‘heinous errors by failing to bring a prosecution earlier when there was evidence there to do so’. Mr Hunt said London Mayor Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May had been ‘right’ to express concern at the decision, adding: ‘I think we all think that there is something very, very strange here where someone was signing official letters only a matter of weeks ago and is somehow escaping prosecution for something so incredibly serious.’ Lord Carlile, a Lib Dem peer and legal expert, said although there was strong evidence Lord Janner had dementia, the decision not to proceed with legal action should be reconsidered. This week, leading politicians from seven parties demanded the decision be reversed. The group, led by Labour’s Simon Danczuk, wrote to The Times: ‘As long as justice is not seen to be done and the greater public interest is not served, the public will see attempts to investigate establishment figures involved in historic child abuse as a whitewash.’ A CPS spokesman confirmed Mrs Laws advised Mrs Saunders to prosecute and that Mrs Montgomery was consulted on an ‘ancillary matter’. At least ten men with dementia have been convicted of child sex offences since 2010.