Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Top lawyer: CPS clearing itself over Caroline is a disgrace
Fury at case review ‘whitewash’
LEADING lawyers have branded the CPS a disgrace, after it effectively cleared itself over the decision to charge Caroline Flack.
Prosecutors faced fierce claims that they had been pursuing a “show trial” against the Love Island star, who killed herself on February 15.
Yesterday the Daily Mirror revealed the CPS was reviewing its decision to prosecute.
Now the CPS says the review is over and found it acted “appropriately and in line with our published legal guidance.”
Experienced criminal barrister Chris Daw QC has attacked the secrecy surrounding the review and the CPS’S lack of transparency over its process.
He said: “It’s a disgrace. It’s an opportunity to take a fresh look at mental health in prosecution decision-making.
“Instead they have had a behindclosed-doors review which, let’s be honest, if it has been done in this timeframe can’t have considered the wider picture at all.”
Mr Daw thinks Caroline’s mental health struggles meant she should not have been charged. He said it was
“outrageous the report will not be made public. If this is just ticking a box, based on the existing way of doing things, then it’s likely to be an expensive waste of time. We need radical reform.”
High-profile lawyer Nick Freeman, known as Mr Loophole, said an independent panel should have carried out the report, otherwise it is a case of the “CPS marking its own homework”.
He said: “This matter has been in the public domain for a long time. All aspects of it should be in the public domain.
“People will inevitably conclude that there has been a whitewash. I am not saying that but had there been an independent review we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Caroline, 40, killed herself the day after learning the CPS was pursuing charges that she attacked partner Lewis Burton.
Caroline denied the charges and Lewis, who received a head injury during the alleged incident at her London flat, insisted he “never supported” a prosecution.
After she died, her managers rapped the CPS for conducting “a show trial” that caused her “significant distress”.