Lawyer who said ‘naive’ jihadis should be spared jail is new DPP
A ROW broke out last night after the terror-law watchdog – who once called for ‘naive’ teenage jihadis to be spared prosecution – was appointed as Britain’s top prosecutor.
Critics questioned whether Max Hill QC was the right person to lead the beleaguered Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after a series of controversial pronouncements on terrorist issues.
He will succeed Alison Saunders as Director of Public Prosecutions and will have to restore public faith in the organisation after a series of scandals during her five-year tenure.
But Mr Hill has repeatedly courted controversy during his career, most notably for suggesting a more lenient approach to dealing with young Islamic State militants returning to Britain from Syria. He said they should be reintegrated into society. He has also warned that a crack down on social media sites that host terrorist material could infringe human rights and met an Islamist group, Cage, that praised the IS executioner known as Jihadi John as a ‘beautiful young man’.
Jihadi John, a Londoner whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi, was filmed beheading hostages. He was killed in a US drone strike in Syria in 2015.
During his time as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Mr Hill has also claimed that tough new laws to prosecute extremists would be wrong despite a string of jihadist attacks in the UK last year.
Now he will be leading the organisation that prosecutes terrorists and as DPP will also play a key role in deciding whether charges should be brought in high profile cases, including those involving politicians and celebrities. He will up the £204,000-a-year position in November following Mrs Saunders’ decision to step down after the Government declined to extend her contract following a string of controversies.
They peaked with the collapse of several rape cases last year but also included criticism over the handling of false child sexual abuse allegations and claims the CPS had become consumed with political correctness.
Mr Hill vowed to ‘restore public trust’ in the prosecuting body amid efforts to improve the way evidence is shared between police and lawyers.
The Attorney General’s office said he would bring a ‘unique combination of legal expertise and public service’ to the role of DPP, having prosecuted highprofile cases including the murder of Damilola Taylor, a tenyear-old boy stabbed to death in South London in 2000.
But critics questioned whether he is the right person to lead the CPS, and also the timing of the appointment, announced just before Parliament’s summer recess which is seen as a ‘good day to bury bad news’.
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees, of Buckingham University, said: ‘I am truly anxious about Max Hill’s appointment as DPP. The DPP’s public role these days, post-Alison Saunders, requires her or him to demonstrate to the public that they can be as tough as old boots and second to none in their pursuit of bad people. But I doubt whether he fills the job description as I see it.’
He added: ‘What grates is, in particular, his suggestion, that UK citizens who had gone off to fight for the so- called Islamic State might be “naive” and that the state should create “space for them to be diverted away from the criminal courts” and that we should be “looking forward towards reintegration”.
‘That seemed wholly off-beam to those who like myself think this comment sent out entirely the wrong message.
‘He should have said, “We’ll come after you wherever you are, and bring you to justice, hell or high water. If you are innocent, you’ll not be convicted.”’
‘Restore public trust’ ‘The wrong message’
Tom Wilson, of the Henry Jackson Society think-tank, said: ‘At a time of heightened security and after a year in which Britain suffered five terrorist attacks, the public will expect and demand that the DPP is someone who is prepared to prosecute Islamist extremists to the fullest possible extent. In any pre-appointment confirmation process, we must hear from Max Hill that that is his absolute intention.’
Mr Hill, who has also acted in fraud, corporate crime and serious violence cases, said he was ‘honoured’ to become the next DPP. ‘This is a challenging time for the CPS,’ he said. ‘I have seen first- hand the sterling work of the CPS and I am determined to restore public trust in all of its work.’
The Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox QC, said Mr Hill was a ‘distinguished and extremely experienced Queen’s Counsel who has demonstrated a profound commitment both to the criminal justice system and to public service’.