Criminal lawyers facing disclosure problems every day

HALF of all criminal lawyers are running into problems with disclosure on a daily basis, and a third believe it has resulted in wrongful convictions, according to survey

An urgent review into rape and sex assault cases was ordered last year after it emerged that detectives had failed to disclose crucial evidence. In a survey of 1,300 solicitors and barristers, the results of which were reported by File on 4 on BBC Radio 4, 97 per cent said they had experienced difficulties with disclosure in the past 12 months.

Bill Waddington, of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: “It kills the rumour that these problems only happen in the occasional big case.”

Greg Mcgill, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Disclosure is a problem facing the whole of the criminal justice system and it requires a criminal justice system response.”