Bar Council accuses CPs of putting cost first, quality second

The Bar Council has accused the Crown Prosecution service of purposefully acting against the public interest by keeping lucrative cases in-house, regardless of whether it would be more appropriate to brief a member of the independent Bar.

The Bar Council has published a leaked email which it says demonstrates how the CPs has adopted policies not to instruct the best advocate for a given case if it is in the best financial interests of the CPs to keep the work in-house.  The email also suggests that "messy troublesome cases with lots of complications" should be sent to the independent Bar, especially if they are likely to be poorly remunerated.

It is understood that the email was circulated to 43 recipients dealing with cases in North London Crown Courts between 15 January and 19 February.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Keir starmer said the email ...should not have been sent and categorically does not reflect the CPs policy on allocating cases to advocates.  He added, I have had assurances from all Chief Crown Prosecutors across England and Wales that no such or similar scheme has been operated elsewhere in the CPs.  An internal investigation has been promised.

A spokesman for the Attorney General Dominic Grieve said that the CPs had  confirmed this was the action of an individual and is not CPs policy.

The Bar Council's statement can be found by clicking on the below link:-

http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media-centre/news-and-press-releases/2013/february/leaked-email-shows-cps-puts-cost-first,-quality-second-when-prosecuting-serious-crimes-%E2%80%93-bar-leaders/