Harrow CPS criticised for falling conviction rates (From Harrow Times)

Harrow CPS criticised for falling conviction rates

8:51am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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SERIOUS failings by Harrow's criminal prosecutors have been exposed in a damning watchdog report.

An inspection into the state of the Crown Prosecution Service in Harrow found criminal cases have been shoddily prepared, vital directions by judge have been overlooked, and some cases have been severely hampered when material was not disclosed to defence barristers.

This has led to a drop in prosecution rates which Stephen Wooler, HM Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, which produced the report, said needed “real and urgent improvement” in the borough.

He said: “Case preparation, particularly in relation to crown court cases, needs to be strengthened substantially.

“Managers and staff need to focus on this and undertake some detailed analysis of the relatively low conviction rate.

“This should then translate into a more consistent standard of service delivery to the courts and the public in Harrow.”

The crown court conviction rate in Harrow in the year to September 2009 was 68.3 per cent, well below the national average of 80.7 per cent, and the report concluded this was down in part to “inefficient and ineffective” case management by the service.

The inspectorate found cases were only reviewed at the last minute, leading to advocates being poorly briefed and key information being missed out altogether.

The service's system of passing information to prosecution witnesses was also criticised for leaving people traumatised by crimes out of the loop.

All this led to Harrow being rated poor by the inspectorate, the same score as similarly under-performing CPS teams in Brent, Enfield, Haringey, and Hillingdon.

Smeetha Pillai, acting borough Crown Prosecutor, she was confident a review of resources across the CPS in London would help raise the conviction rates.

She said: “I am hopeful that this report will signal the way forward. The Inspectorate's findings make clear what aspects of our work we need to prioritise.”

She added: “Attending court as a victim or witness can be very difficult and I want to make sure we have everything in place to make that easier.

“We will prioritise the need to ensure that applications for special measures are submitted in time, so that people giving evidence are given every help they need.”