§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Attorney-General, pursuant to the answer of 5 February, what criteria the Director of Public Prosecutions uses in deciding whether the evidence in a particular case justifies initiating proceedings for extradition; what weight he attaches to the evidence adduced by the police in their decision to bring charges; and how the criteria were applied in the case of Mr. James Ingley.
The Solicitor-GeneralBefore deciding whether to make an extradition request, the Director of Public Prosecutions must first establish whether there is sufficient evidence to support a prosecution in this country, and if so, whether a prosecution is in the public interest. In making this decision, he applies the criteria set down in the code for Crown Prosecutors, a copy of which was placed in the House of Commons Library in June 1986. Where he decides that the evidence adduced by the police is insufficient to support a prosecution, as he did in the case of Mr. James Ingley, it follows that no extradition request can be made.