Incoming Linklaters partner Alison Saunders criticised for failing to take 'urgent action' on disclosure failures as DPP
Justice committee report says Saunders failed to recognise seriousness of disclosure issues
July 20, 2018 at 05:40 AM
2 minute read
Incoming Linklaters partner Alison Saunders (pictured) has been criticised by MPs for failing to address disclosure issues that led to the high-profile collapse of several rape trials during her tenure as director of public prosecutions (DPP).
Saunders comes under fire in a Justice Committee report published today (20 July), for failing to get to grips with disclosure problems that have dogged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in recent years.
The committee's report notes that it was "surprised and disappointed" that Saunders did not appear to have "pressed for more urgent action to address the worsening situation during her time in post" as DPP.
It adds: "We do not feel that the director has sufficiently recognised the extent and seriousness of the failures of disclosure."
Attorney General Jeremy Wright is also criticised in the report, which states: "It is further disappointing that the Attorney General in place at the time of inquiry stated to us that he was aware of problems going back as far as 1996 but yet the problem had persisted and apparently worsened under his watch."
Commenting on the report's publication, chair of the Justice Committee Bob Neill MP, said: "These failings have caused miscarriages of justice and – as the DPP even admitted to us – some people have gone to prison as a result. The failings are symptomatic of a system under immense strain: without change, we cannot expect the public to have confidence in the criminal justice system."
The report comes after Saunders gave evidence to the Justice Committee's inquiry into disclosure failings in June. Saunders described disclosure issues as "longstanding, systematic issues", but argued that "cultural failings around disclosure" did not happen on her watch.
Saunders' term as DPP ends in October, after which she is set to join Linklaters' business crime team in London.
She became the first internal candidate to lead the CPS when she took over from current Labour MP Keir Starmer in 2013. Before that she qualified as a barrister, before working for Lloyd's of London and subsequently joining the CPS in 1986.
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