Prosecutors ‘letting police take the flak’ for lack of action over M25 protests

Forces have made over 200 arrests, but say the CPS is also to blame over failure to charge offenders

ELECTED crime chiefs have accused prosecutors of leaving police forces “to take the flak” for the lack of charges of protesters who took part in the M25 protests.

More than 200 people have been arrested since Insulate Britain began its campaign to bring chaos to the motorway network a fortnight ago.

But only one suspect has been charged in connection with the protests while many of them have been arrested multiple times only to be repeatedly released under investigation.

Motorists caught up in the disruption are furious at the lack of action from the authorities and fear those responsible could go unpunished. But police and crime commissioners in the worst affected areas have said forces are in an almost impossible situation in trying to get offenders before the courts and have said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) must take some of the blame.

Police have the power to charge offenders with minor offences – such as blocking a highway – without the approval of prosecutors.

But they are often reluctant to do so because they fear the backlog in the courts means the cases will be discontinued by the CPS.

Alternatively they can try to build a case to bring more serious charges against the perpetrators.

But this takes time, and cases run the risk of being rejected for failing to meet the CPS’s strict charging threshold.

In recent months, Extinction Rebellion protesters have been acquitted at trial or have successfully challenged the law.

This is likely to make it even more difficult for the police to persuade prosecutors to put cases before the courts.

Lisa Townsend, the police and crime commissioner for Surrey, one of the areas where the M25 demonstrations have caused chaos, said police were between a rock and a hard place but are taking the blame from an increasingly frustrated public.

She said: “I’m not suggesting the CPS have been sitting around twiddling their thumbs, but the police have come in for an enormous amount of flak over the past two weeks and it is incredibly frustrating when they have been doing their utmost to arrest people and prevent the disruption.

“To some extent it seems as if the CPS have been willing to sit back and allow the police to take that flak.

“It is very difficult for the police because if they charge the protesters with a relatively minor offence it is likely to be discontinued and if they try to elevate the charge to a more serious one, they are finding it is not reaching the necessary threshold. But the public deserves to see a response from all parts of the criminal justice system and it is unfair for the police to be blamed if people do not end up before the courts.”

A CPS spokesman said: “Offences committed at a protest are often summary only and if the police have sufficient evidence they can charge those themselves without the need to come to us.

“When the CPS does get involved we will not hesitate to charge protesters, as we have done in the past, if our legal test is met.

“Each case is different and is considered on the material provided to us by the police. We do not speculate on how other cases may impact on it.”