The Crown Prosecution Service has hit back at accusations from the Met Police that it ‘cherry-picks’ easy cases to boost conviction rates.

In an interview yesterday with the Evening Standard, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley suggested that prosecutors were ‘not taking on the harder cases’.

Admitting his comments would be contentious, he added: ‘To be successful for victims of all types of crime we need a system that’s prepared to take more difficult cases through and let juries and magistrates decide rather than lawyers in advance.’

But last night, Max Hill KC, Director of Public Prosecutions, released a statement denying the commissioner accusations, saying it was ‘unfortunate and concerning’ that he was risking damaging the public’s confidence in reporting crime and their confidence that justice will be done.

Sir Mark Rowley, Met Police Commissioner

Sir Mark Rowley suggested that prosecutors were ‘not taking on the harder cases’

Source: Alamy

Hill said: ‘It is not true that prosecutors ‘cherry-pick’ cases to improve prosecution rates.

‘We are an independent and demand-led organisation, and can only prosecute cases that are referred to us by the police themselves.

‘Every case the CPS reviews is judged fairly according to our legal test which has remained unchanged. If they meet the test, we will not hesitate in prosecuting them – easy or hard – and taking them to court.’

 

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