Met signals U-turn on cases that are trivial or historic
came as Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said her force would no longer adopt the policy and would instead keep an open mind.
The Telegraph revealed Ms Saunders would not serve a second term as head of the Crown Prosecution Service amid claims the first had been “disastrous”.
Last night she defended her leadership and denied she had been pushed out. But critics claimed there had been “serious concerns” about the priorities of the CPS as violent crime figures rose.
Her opponents said she had been too focused on prosecuting historic sexual offences and journalists, instead of burglary and violent crime. In an apparent hint that historic cases may no longer be top of the list, Ms Dick yesterday told The Times: “If it’s a long time ago, or it’s very trivial, or I’m not likely to get a criminal justice outcome, I’m not going to spend a lot of resources on it. What might be a misunderstanding between two people, clumsy behaviour between somebody who fancies somebody else, is not a matter for the police.”
Critics said a damaging culture had developed between the police and the CPS, where officers were working to secure a conviction from the outset instead of seeking evidence.
Bob Neill MP, chairman of the Justice select committee, said although underlying issues with how police investigate could be partly to blame for an increase in violent crime, there were also “serious concerns” over CPS priorities.
Others in the running are said to be Zoe Johnson QC and Brian Altman QC.