Sunday 21 January 2018

An Open Letter to Alison Saunders

A copy of my Open Letter to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders.


Dear Ms Saunders,

Like many people who have had first-hand experience of our criminal justice system, I was dumbfounded by your recent assertion on the BBC Radio 4 'Today' programme, that no innocent victims are languishing in prison as a result of disclosure failures by the police and/or the Crown Prosecution Service. The statement is as absurd as your predecessor's that 'all complainants of historical sexual abuse will be believed.' How people who secure senior appointments such as the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) can make such preposterous statements is beyond me.

Ms Saunders, how could you possibly know that there are no innocent victims suffering as a result of disclosure failures? Pray, tell me, how?

These puerile claims do everyone who is involved in the criminal justice system no credit at all. Anyone who has had a 'taste' of British justice in recent years, particularly in alleged sex abuse cases, knows that the whole system is set up solely to produce convictions at almost any cost. Any defendant will have a mountain to climb to prove his or her innocence. (Let's stop pretending that in alleged sex abuse cases it is innocent until proven guilty).

We all know that once the police arrest someone they feel it is their bounden duty to secure a conviction. We all know that any evidence to cast doubt on the prosecution case will tend to be ignored. Yet, you attempt to whitewash what has become a broken, unbalanced system and this serves to damage your high office as the DPP. Asserting, as you do, that there is no need for the police to review media accounts and mobile phones in such cases is to shut down, potentially, vital avenues of inquiry. This very issue seems to be one of the key reasons prosecution cases are now collapsing on what is virtually a weekly basis. (Full marks to prosecuting counsel Jerry Hayes for getting the ball rolling).

How can you possibly continue to maintain this arrogant fiction that no innocent people are rotting in jail on account of the biased m.o. of the police and/or CPS? The truth is you cannot possibly know unless you order a review of disclosure procedures in every contested prosecution case that has ended in a conviction. After all, juries in criminal trials are under oath to try cases solely on the basis of evidence presented to them during the trial. If crucial evidence which might assist the defence is held back, then such trials can be neither fair nor just. It is no surprise that the recent public collapse of several criminal prosecutions has cast serious doubt in the minds of the general public about the competence - and bona fides - of the entire prosecution system here in the UK.

The CPS, under your leadership, seems to be continuing misguided policies that were introduced for largely ideological reasons. Your unlamented predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, now a Labour shadow minister, did immense damage to our justice system by politicising the role of the CPS. As DPP, you have rendered a bad situation worse.

British justice used to be the envy of the world, something of which we could all be justifiably proud. Now it is becoming inexorably a national disgrace. Ms Saunders, people's lives are being destroyed due to appallingly one-sided and unbalanced police 'investigations' (try reading my latest book 'Presumed Guilty'; and I was one of the lucky ones!). These 'investigations' presuppose guilt and, what is worse, seem institutionally inclined to conceal or suppress evidence that might undermine prosecutions. In this way they boost the chances of the prosecutors hitting your arbitrary, ideological targets for 'successful' results, i.e. accused people being found guilty.

Ms Saunders, you have spent most of your professional career inside the CPS and it isn't hard to understand why you see no reason to pursue meaningful reform or to challenge the current status quo. Could there be a better reason to consider the ethics of promoting someone from within the system to the post of DPP?

Rather than grandstanding in the media, you might well be advised to look more closely at the reasons public confidence in our criminal justice system is being undermined - an issue highlighted this week by the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge. The law of unintended consequences of the present unbalanced, unfair approach to these 'investigations' might just be that juries will no longer have confidence that they have heard all the relevant evidence and acquit the guilty.

Ms Saunders, we all know that miscarriages of justice are a fact within our legal system. If they were not, then the Court of Appeal would not be quashing convictions. And I can tell you that the chancers/liars/fantasists are rarely hauled into a court of law, even when they are shown to be just what they are. (I am still awaiting for the two liars who falsely accused me to be called to account).

The system is stacked against those accused and the complainants, often referred to as 'victims' from the outset, are supported throughout. For an innocent person, found guilty in a court of law, has little chance of a case review unless there is incontrovertible evidence to prove that innocence. Which makes fair, balanced initial investigations all the more important.

Ms Saunders, there are innocent people rotting in our dangerous prisons. These people are victims, just like those who have been genuinely raped or abused. This latest assertion by you that only the guilty are being punished, are having their lives ruined, gives the impression you are either out of touch with reality or in denial.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Warr


15 comments:

  1. Yet another excellent post Simon. At long last people within the justice system are speaking out about how unbalanced the justice system is. Alison Saunders position is now untenable - I found her comment that she does not believe that any innocent person has been convicted due to non-disclosure in many trials. How can she possibly make that statement knowing the jury has not been presented with all the evidence. These kinds of comments are deeply distressing for anyone who has found themselves falsely accused or who knows someone who has been wrongly Convicted.

    I am supporting my innocent fiance, who has been wrongly convicted. It was like the jury were watching another trial - they were not presented with information , that I was well aware of. Having to visit an innocent person in prison is heartbreaking. When you know full well that not all the facts were not presented to the jury.

    Alison Saunders needs to step down - she is not credible to carry out her role now. For many years people have been saying how unbalanced the justice system is in many SA/HSA cases. Now that people who work within the justice system are now speaking publicly about how unbalanced the justice system is.

    That is a massive step forwards for many thousands who are supporting someone who has been falsely accused or wrongly convicted.

    We need to carry on fighting to protect people in the future, who may find themselves in this awful situation of being FA/wrongly convicted

    Many of us will carry on the fight - to be heard. To carry on fighting for the real justice that we deserve - as we are real victims of this corrupt justice system .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alison Saunders is not fit to hold the post of Director of Public Prosecutions and must be sacked if she will not resign. Sack Alison Saunders

    ReplyDelete
  3. Get rid of her .innocents have no chance with people if her mind set in power. Out out out !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Get rid of her .innocents have no chance with people if her mind set in power. Out out out !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Get rid of her .innocents have no chance with people if her mind set in power. Out out out !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well said Simon. As somebody supported a falsely accused and convicted man I am only too aware of how unjust the whole system is. It may be too late for some of us but change it must, and soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is what happens when harridans are allowed to participate in public life. St Paul got it right all those years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is alsop what happens when your government is controlled by feminists.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The CPS is in the grip of a totalitarian ideology known as feminism. Is it any wonder that there is a presumption of guilt if the defendant is male. To feminists, all men are automatically guilty for being born male.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  10. Thank you Simon Warr, for making your case far more eloquently than I could ever hope to. This ghastly woman needs to be sacked immediately. I pity her poor sons!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thoughtcrime ... your on the money there my friend. Im suspecting incidence of falsely accused is far far high than what the cps is prepared to admit and they know it. Its readily accepted that jailing innocent people ... collateral damage as it is called,is the opportunity cost society has to bare.

    A really shocking state of affairs.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Having recently been through a fa , I’ve ordered your book , in support , great letter ...

    ReplyDelete