§ Mr. FraserTo ask the Attorney-General if he will make a statement about the failure of the Crown prosecution service to be represented in a magistrates court in Brent on 15 March.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI take the question to refer to the events which occurred on Saturday 17 March. I very much regret the circumstances which arose at Brent magistrates court on that day when there was no representation for the Crown prosecution service. The Director of Public Prosecutions immediately instituted a thorough investigation. An arrangement was made by a member of the CPS staff for a barrister agent to attend Brent magistrates court on that occasion. The arrangement was made in the week commencing 26 February at the same time as arrangements were made for that barrister additionally to cover courts on 3, 10 and 31 March. The barrister in question maintains that he was booked for only one date in March, that being the 31. The issue is not capable of objective resolution, but it is established that he did duly attend court both on the 3rd and the 10th.
On learning of the situation, police officers at Brent magistrates court attempted to contact the Crown prosecution service but the court dismissed the case at approximately 10.40 am. The Director of Public Prosecution has taken steps to ensure that such a situation shall not recur. A revised system has been put in place at the branch in question whereby all such arrangements are confirmed in writing and checked on the preceding afternoon, and whereby there are effective contingency procedures to deal with the situation where a prosecutor, for whatever reason, unexpectedly fails to attend. The field director for operations in the CPS has circulated every CPS area in the country requiring that all such systems be reviewed and tested.