Letter from DPP Max Hill to The Times in response to their leading article of 14 November 2018

Sir,

You are right that I am determined to build trust in the Crown Prosecution Service, which means correcting fundamental mistakes about our role such as those in your leading article (Up Hill Task, Nov 14).

The CPS does not investigate crime. Operation Midland was a police investigation, and the CPS was never asked to make a charging decision in the cases of either Lord Bramall or Lord Brittan.

However, in Sir Cliff Richard’s case where we were asked to make a charging decision, prosecutors acted swiftly, making the decision not to charge less than six weeks after receiving the complete file of evidence from the police.

Further, it is not true that the CPS is reviewing past rape convictions.

Like my predecessor, Alison Saunders, I will admit when mistakes are made, and act to put them right. The CPS and police have made huge strides over the past year to address long standing issues in managing disclosure of evidence. That progress must continue if people are to have confidence that our justice system is fair, and my focus is on ensuring that we provide work of the highest quality in every case.

MAX HILL QC
Director of Public Prosecutions
Crown Prosecution Service