Cheshire Annual Report 2001-2002

Introduction by the Chief Crown Prosecutor

I am pleased to present this third annual report for CPS Cheshire. In the last 12 months we have achieved many of our ambitions from the previous two years.

The biggest change that we have undertaken has involved internal restructuring to take account of the recommendations of the Glidewell Review. In April 2001 the “old” two-branch structure for Cheshire was dismantled. In its place we now have two units, one that deals with the magistrates’ courts work (about 21,300 cases) and one that deals with the more complex Crown Court work (about 2,200 cases). Our intention in bringing about such fundamental changes was to concentrate upon the most serious cases in the Crown Court whilst continuing to deliver a high quality service to the less complex, but much higher volume, work in magistrates’ courts.

We have also opened a third office within Crewe police station that greatly facilitates the ease of communication with the police. We are very grateful that Cheshire Constabulary has agreed to perform the great majority of administrative functions with respect to the work undertaken at Crewe.

As we pass the first anniversary of these changes, I am delighted to report that the programme has been successful in enhancing performance. The greater concentration on Crown Court work has substantially improved the quality of our preparation and review, leading to fewer failed cases.

From my own advocacy in magistrates’ and Crown Courts throughout Cheshire I have seen for myself these improvements and am satisfied that they represent a real step forward for us. I had not expected to see such results so quickly and know that progress is entirely due to the efforts of staff across the Area.

Another great change for us has been in the area of information technology. For many years we have worked without the benefit of access to IT for all staff. It has been a source of embarrassment that we did not have Internet access, nor an e-mail address for communication by electronic means. All this changed in October 2001. Every member of staff now has a computer that provides a range of on-line legal textbooks and standard office documents such as word processing and spreadsheets. We also have access to the Internet and personal e-mail accounts. We are still getting to grips with the new technology but it is clear that we shall have to do without our old quill pens!

While we are pleased with our progress in changing our most significant benefit for the public will lie in the greatly enhanced service that these changes will enable us to offer to victims.

We have been conscious for many years that victims do not enjoy a particularly good service from the criminal justice system as a whole. At a national level the principal agencies, such as The CPS, Home Office and Lord Chancellor’s Department, have been working closely to bring about improvements to the way in which victims and witnesses are treated. Some of these improvements are imminent, while others will take longer.

At a local level, our changes of the past two years have enabled us to lay down firm plans for greatly improving our service by initiating direct contact with victims. In May 2002 we launched our Victim Information Bureau. With this service we inform victims of any significant changes to the charges brought by the police and in particular we will provide an explanation when we decide not to proceed with a case. In the more sensitive cases we also offer a meeting with the lawyer in order that we may address any outstanding concerns that the victim may have about our handling of the case.

These changes have the potential to substantially improve the position of victims, and all our lawyers have undergone intensive training to help prepare them for this initiative. As part of our commitment to improving our service to the public, we have been key players in multi agency work aimed at improving the services that we offer to ethnic minority communities throughout Cheshire, Halton and Warrington.

We recognise the findings of the enquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence, and what those findings mean for criminal justice. Together with the other agencies we took part in two important conferences, held in Daresbury and Widnes, which provided us with vital feedback on what the more vulnerable members of our society want and need from the local criminal justice system.

Victims and diversity are very much on our agenda, and came together in 2001 when we launched a new policy for prosecuting cases of domestic violence. The policy,

completed after extensive consultation, outlines the factors that we will take into account when prosecuting cases of domestic violence. It is now applied throughout the country and copies are available upon request or from The CPS website at www.cps.gov.uk.

A subject that received close attention throughout the year is the way in which we deal with persistent young offenders. At a local level I have received concern from members of the public that not enough is done about crime committed by youths. At national level the government made a pledge to tackle the delays in putting persistent young offenders through the court system by requiring a halving of the 142 days that it took, on average, to deal with each persistent young offender.

The commitment to reduce these delays represented a major challenge for Cheshire as our performance at the start of the year was among the very worst of the 42 criminal justice areas, with an average of 112 days in 2000. Together with our partners we directed a great deal of effort to speed up the process.

Those figures first gradually then dramatically improved and by the end of 2001 we were one of the best areas, and consistently beating the 71-day target. I am confident that this will help address the level of crime committed by the “hard core” of persistent young offenders.

In summary, we approach 2002-03 with many achievements behind us, but many more to come. I believe that, in light of the successes of the last two years, we are well placed to deliver a wider and enhanced service for the communities we serve.

Barry Hughes
Chief Crown Prosecutor

About CPS Cheshire

CPS Cheshire is structured into a Magistrates’ Court Unit (MCU) and a Crown Court Unit (CCU), a structure born out of the recommendations made by Sir Iain Glidewell in his review of The Crown Prosecution Service.

The MCU deal with all magistrates’ court work in Cheshire and a small number of appeals to the Crown Court. All committals for trial, and most appeals from the magistrates’ court, are passed to the CCU. The CCU deals with the great majority of Crown Court prosecutions and all matters in the Court of Appeal, the exception being cases that go to the House of Lords, which are handled by the Casework Directorate in London, in conjunction with CPS Cheshire. There are at present two main offices in Chester and Warrington, with an additional office in Crewe.

Magistrates’ Court Unit

This consists of three teams that are each co-extensive with the operational units of the police and Magistrates’ Court Service.

The Warrington and Halton team is based in our Warrington office. A District Crown Prosecutor leads each team.

Work from Northwich and Chester Magistrates’ Court is handled by the team based at Chester.

The work from Macclesfield and Crewe Magistrates’ Courts is dealt with by our team that is co-located with the police criminal justice unit in divisional headquarters at Crewe. We have worked very closely with Cheshire Constabulary in setting up this innovative unit and we confidently expect that the much-shortened lines of communication, and reduction in bureaucracy, will allow us to deliver a more efficient service.

Crown Court Unit

This consists of two teams, one of which is based at Chester and handles all work for Chester Crown Court. The other team is based at Warrington and handles our prosecutions at Warrington Crown Court. Crown Court lawyers do not have responsibility for magistrates’ court cases, which creates a much sharper focus on Crown Court prosecutions.

KEY INITIATIVES

Persistent Young Offenders — Delivering the Government Pledge

In 2001/2002 we worked closely with colleagues from other criminal justice agencies to reduce the period taken to deal with persistent young offenders. In line with Government policy our target is to deal with cases involving such offenders within a period of 71 days from arrest.

The agencies involved adopted a joint strategy designed to focus attention on the need to expedite cases involving persistent young offenders. As a result the average period of time taken to deal with these cases during 2001 was 61 days.

This improvement in performance from 2000 (112 days) is a very significant achievement that has been obtained only by all the criminal justice agencies working together.

Domestic Violence in Cheshire

The revised CPS policy on Domestic Violence was launched in London on 28 November 2001 at an event presided over by the Solicitor-General, with Cherie Booth QC as guest speaker. By the time of the launch The CPS had already appointed to each of the 42 areas an Area Domestic Violence Co-ordinator.

A number of those co-ordinators including Cheshire’s, attended a launch inaugural meeting of The CPS Domestic Violence Co-ordinators Network where the revised policy and guidance were discussed in detail.

A new Cheshire Police Domestic Violence Policy was created in 2002 after consultation with the area coordinator, which incorporates all of The CPS inspectorate’s recommendations and many of the elements of the revised CPS Policy.

A Service Standard Agreement has been drafted which at the time of going to press is in the process of consultation. This incorporates the rest of the elements of The CPS revised policy and will enable proper enforcement of CPS Policy in relation to Domestic Violence throughout the area.

New training has been devised for all lawyers and caseworkers dealing with Domestic Violence cases and delivered to a large number of staff.

CPS Cheshire has also agreed to assist the Cheshire Domestic Abuse Partnership in compiling statistics for a Home Office funded project, thereby helping the community at large to monitor the trends in Domestic Violence and hopefully come up with some solutions as to how to deal more effectively with issues surrounding Domestic Violence, not just the issues surrounding the prosecution of offenders.

Prosecuting Racist Crime

Racist incidents continued to be monitored within the Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court Units on a monthly basis during 2001/2002.

Religious incidents are now also monitored in the same way arising from the amendments made by The Anti- Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 which extended the racially aggravated offences created under the Crime & Disorder Act 1998 to cover offences aggravated by religious hostility.

The 2001 Act has also increased the maximum penalty for racist offences from two to seven years’ imprisonment under the Public Order Act 1986, which tend to be the most common offences of a racist or religious background arising in Cheshire.

Crown Court Advocacy

During the year, CPS Cheshire actively sought to raise the presence and profile of the service within the Crown Court. The Area is committed to developing the experience and expertise of its prosecutors through development in appropriate Crown Court cases.

On a regular basis, lawyers from the Crown Court Unit appeared in preliminary hearings for indictable only matters, ranging from serious assault to murder.

The implementation of the provisions relating to higher court rights of audience contained within the Access Justice Act 1999 offered the Area an opportunity to develop the role of its Higher Court Advocates (HCA).

Since April 2001, the Area’s six HCAs have made over 180 appearances in the Crown Court, prosecuting a variety of cases from committals for sentence to Plea and Direction Hearings.

Direct Communication with Victims

CPS Cheshire began plans to implement The CPS initiative Direct Communications with Victims (DCV) from September 2001 onwards.

Under this initiative The CPS takes the responsibility of communicating to the victim its decisions to drop or substantially alter charges in a case explaining fully how the decision was made. In certain cases a meeting will be offered.

The Cheshire Victim Information Bureau (VIB) will comprise of dedicated administrative staff who will communicate the lawyer’s decision to the victim and will be a central point for enquiries.

The staff within the VIB will be fully trained to communicate with victims and co-ordinate the DCV initiative throughout the Area. The VIB will also arrange any meetings that are requested and keep detailed records of all cases coming within the initiative. Recruitment of VIB staff has now taken place, with training ongoing.

A joint Protocol between the Police and CPS setting out the roles of both organisations within the initiative has been signed. A copy of the Protocol has been forwarded to the Witness Service and Victim Support so that they are fully aware of CPS responsibilities to victims under the DCV initiative.

The VIB was launched on 14 May 2002.

The Area has decided to go one step further than the DCV initiative and will take an additional responsibility to keep families of deceased victims informed of the progress of their case throughout the life of the case.

The Area is committed to providing a better service for victims of crime and is confident that the VIB will provide the necessary information and support to improve the victim’s understanding of their case and the operation of the Criminal Justice System.

Information box: THE AREA MANAGEMENT TEAM (AMT)

The Area Management Team of CPS Cheshire has seen a new member of staff join their team: Steve Hoolohan, who became Acting Head of the Crown Court Unit in November 2001.

Casework

High Profile Cases

CPS Cheshire has dealt with a number of high profile and interesting cases, some of which are detailed below.

R -v- Annette Innes & Others:

Eight defendants were prosecuted for Conspiracy to Defraud in relation to the MBNA Bank based in Chester.

One of the defendants, Annette Innes, had been working at the MBNA Bank and had used her position to obtain the account details and passwords in relation to numerous MBNA accounts. Her co-defendants then telephoned the MBNA Bank, pretending to be the account holders, and asked for the transfer of various amounts of money into their own accounts.

When subsequently questioned about the receipt of the monies into their accounts, the various defendants had prepared cover stories as to where they believed the money had come from. As the trial date approached the defendants began to plead guilty and some provided witness statements against other defendants.

Eventually, a trial was held solely in relation to Annette Innes who, whilst accepting that she had passed the details on, claimed that she had done so under duress and that she had received threats towards her immediate family.

The trial began but the jury was discharged after two days, when it was discovered that an ex-boyfriend of Annette Innes had been talking to one of the jurors outside the Crown Court building. The trial re-started and was ably prosecuted by Robin Spencer and Steven Everett.

The jury convicted her unanimously after a very short retirement. Innes was sentenced to 31/2 years’ imprisonment and has appealed against her sentence. The other defendants received sentences ranging from 12 months’ to three years’ imprisonment.

R -v- Lambert:

In this Warrington case the defendant was convicted under Section 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Act with Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Supply. The defence argued that the defendant’s human rights had been violated and there was an appeal to the Court of Appeal, in which the defendant’s appeal was dismissed and he then took the case to the House of Lords.

The House of Lords upheld the conviction and their decision is now part of the important case law that has developed since the Human Rights Act came into force. Mr Lambert continues to contest his conviction.

R -v - Boiling & Others:

On 2 November 2001, four out of five defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import ecstacy and cannabis.

Customs at Hull had intercepted a consignment of plant pots and Christmas Trees containing £1 million worth of drugs bound for Nantwich in Cheshire. It had arrived via Zeebrugge from Antwerp, Belgium and turned out to be the twenty-first such consignment delivered in the previous six months.

The load was duly delivered by officers from Cheshire’s Central Drugs Unit, and Mr Boiling, the warehouseman of the team, was arrested. Others were seen to speed away in a black Audi motor car — one of several expensive, fast cars used by the gang — but were traced and arrested in Liverpool a few days later, just as they were waiting, with bags packed, for their taxi to the airport.

His Honour Judge M. Hughes, QC sentenced the gang to the following years of imprisonment:

Mr McCulloch — twelve years
Mr Natt — five years
Mr Allen — five years
Mr Boiling — four years

Notices of Appeal have been received for three of the defendants.

At Warrington Crown Court, orders were made under the Drugs Trafficking Offences Act (DTOA) in which the defendants were adjudged to have benefited from drug trafficking to a sum of £870,000. Realizable assets totalled £200,000.

Confiscation Orders totalling £200,000 were made, with consecutive sentences in default ranging from 28 days to three years.

The police say this is the largest Confiscation Order that has ever been made in Cheshire.

About The Crown Prosecution Service

The Code for Crown Prosecutors

The CPS prosecutes all cases in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The Code is of fundamental importance to the core business of The CPS as it provides guidance to prosecutors on the general principles to be applied in all prosecution decisions, and acts as a public statement of policy allowing everyone to see and understand the basis upon which these decisions are made.

A revised Code for Crown Prosecutors was published in 2000 in order to reflect important developments in legislation, criminal procedure and The CPS’ own structure. As part of that revision process, an extensive programme of public consultation was carried out and almost every aspect of the Code commented upon. New features of the Code include a reference to our position and obligations under the Human Rights act 1998, clarification of the relationship between victims and public interest and a paragraph on youths to reflect new procedures for reprimands and final warnings.

The Auld Review

Lord Justice Auld’s Criminal Courts Review was published in October 2001. It recommends an overhaul of the criminal courts with a unified criminal court in three divisions and a single administration to replace the existing and separate Crown and magistrates’ courts structures.

Another proposal is that The CPS rather than the police should decide charges in all but minor, routine offences, or where a holding charge is needed. The change should help improve the quality of files and lead to earlier decisions on when to charge and what charges should be brought. The Home Secretary has agreed that the procedure be piloted for six months in five CPS Areas in advance of the Government’s decision regarding the Auld recommendations.

About The Crown Prosecution Service: The Facts

The CPS is responsible for prosecuting people in England and Wales charged by the police with a criminal offence.

Nationally we prosecute more than 1.4 million cases every year and our annual planned expenditure for 2001-02 was £416.3 million. This included £30.4 million from the new criminal justice reserve, to speed up the reform of the Service.

Currently we:

Advise the police on possible prosecutions.
Review prosecutions started by the police to ensure the right defendants are prosecuted on the right charges.
Prepare cases for court.
Prosecute cases at magistrates’ courts and instruct counsel to prosecute in the Crown Court and higher courts. Some CPS lawyers are now qualified to appear in the Crown Court in certain cases.
Liaise with other agencies and other Government Departments to achieve improvements in the criminal justice system.
The CPS is headed by Sir David Calvert-Smith QC, Director of Public Prosecutions; the Chief Executive is Richard Foster, who took up post in January 2002.
The CPS employs around 7,100 staff and has an Equal Opportunities Policy. Parts of the Service have achieved the Investor in People standard while others are pursuing accreditation.
A Diversity Unit was set up in October 1999. The Unit’s remit is to turn The CPS Equality Statement into a reality. The aim is to ensure that The CPS does not discriminate in either its employment practice or its prosecutions. A Steering Group has been set up to oversee the Service’s commitment to change following reports by barrister Sylvia Denman and also the Commission for Racial Equality that highlighted discrimination against ethnic minority staff in The CPS. It is chaired by Attorney General Lord Goldsmith.
The Attorney General’s Race Advisory Group includes representatives from external organisations. It examines and comments on proposals by The CPS to improve equal opportunities in response to the Denman and CRE report recommendations. There is commitment from the top of The CPS to having a Service which is fair and has proper approaches to diversity.
The CPS continues to develop new electronic information and media. It has an intranet service with an internal website, CPS Online. CPS Online gives staff better access to information, improved internal communications and allows The CPS to manage its information and knowledge better.
The CPS’ internet website is at http://www.cps.gov.uk and is available in English and Welsh. It provides a considerable amount of information about our business, staff and structures.
The CPS, and its criminal justice partners, are working together to help realise the Government’s pledge to halve the time it takes to deal with persistent young offenders in youth courts and in Crown Court.
The CPS is taking forward initiatives to speed up justice proposed by Martin Narey in his Review of Delay in the Criminal Justice System. These include new designated caseworkers - specially trained CPS staff, who are not lawyers, review and present in the magistrates’ courts a limited range of cases involving straightforward guilty pleas.
CPS Areas are working in partnership with police forces to establish joint and co-located criminal justice units to reduce duplication and delay in bringing cases to court. They are also establishing Trials Units (TUs) to deal with the preparation and presentation of the more serious cases at Crown Court. Most TUs will be located in CPS premises, but some are planned for Crown Court centres.
The CPS has 42 Areas corresponding to the 43 police forces in England and Wales (London Area covers both City of London and Metropolitan Police Forces). Each Area has a Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) who is responsible for prosecutions. In London the CCP is supported by Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutors. Area Business Managers are responsible for the efficient running of the Area.
The CPS Vision and Strategy is “to be a prosecuting authority of stature, providing the best possible service to society. We want to be a professional organisation which values all its people, performs to a high standard, inspires public confidence, and works in partnership”.

Where we fit in the criminal justice system

The Law Officers: The Attorney General is assisted by the Solicitor General. The Attorney General has final responsibility for enforcing criminal law and superintends the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The police: Police forces investigate crime and arrest or detain suspected offenders. Once a suspect is held they decide whether to caution them, take no further action, issue a fixed penalty notice — in the case of motoring offences — or charge them and send the papers to prosecuting authorities, mainly The CPS.
The Lord Chancellor’s Department: The Lord Chancellor is head of the judiciary and responsible for the administration of the court system in England and Wales. This includes the magistrates’ courts.
The Court Service: Responsible for the High Court and administration of the Crown Court and County Courts in England and Wales.
The Home Office: Responsible for matters relating to law and order. The Prison Service: The Service is responsible for keeping in custody people on remand awaiting trial and those sentenced to imprisonment by the courts.
The National Probation Service: The Service provides courts with advice and information on offenders to help sentencing decisions and implements community orders made by the courts.
There are other prosecuting authorities. They include: the Department of Trade and Industry; the Serious Fraud Office; HM Customs and Excise; the Health and Safety Executive; the Department of Social Security; the Inland Revenue; the Department of Food and Rural Affairs; the Intervention Board; the Bank of England; the Army; the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy prosecuting authorities; the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; and the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority.

Leafets and publications

The CPS publishes a range of leaflets and publications about its work that are available free of charge to members of the public.

Leaflets currently available include: a description of the work of The CPS (Introduction); the people who work for the Service (People); information about careers with The CPS (Careers); the Code for Crown Prosecutors (the Code) — and an abbreviated version of the Code (Prosecutions); The CPS policy on dealing with Domestic Violence and advice for vulnerable witnesses attending court (Witnesses); and a leaflet on how to make a complaint (Complaints). Most publications are available in alternative formats and in other languages.

For more information, contact The CPS Communications Branch, 50 Ludgate Hill, London EC4M 7EX; telephone: 020 7796 8442.

Dealing with complaints

Our comprehensive complaints procedure is set out in a leaflet available from Area offices and on our website: http://www.cps.gov.uk

If you have a complaint about our handling of a case you should write to The CPS office which originally dealt with it. Please include as much information as possible such as the defendant’s name, the court where the case was heard, and any hearing dates and reference numbers you may have.

If you are not satisfied with replies you receive you should contact The CPS Area’s Chief Crown Prosecutor. They will look into the complaint.

If you are still not satisfied you can write to the Customer Service Unit Manager, 50 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7EX.

Complaints that cannot be resolved locally are referred through this Unit to the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Chief Executive.

Performance in the Magistrates’ Courts

All prosecutions start in the magistrates’ courts. These include offences ranging from minor motoring matters to assaults and theft. Usually the more serious cases proceed to the Crown Court.

The reorganisation into units at the beginning of the year was a strategy aimed at increasing the attention that we give to the cases heard in the Crown Court. In addressing this objective we recognise that the magistrates’ courts situated around the county deal with the vast majority of the cases that we handle.

During the year we assumed responsibility for 21,878 prosecutions commenced by Cheshire Police. It is pleasing to report that in addition to concentrating more on Crown Court casework we maintained a high rate of convictions in the magistrates’ court.

To ensure that our new strategy remains viable and that our performance in the magistrates’ court does not suffer we have worked hard to make best use of our resources. Agreement has been reached with the Magistrates’ Court Service in relation to the listing of cases. The principal aim is to reduce unnecessary attendance at court by witnesses and speed up the time taken to deal with cases. We worked very closely with police trying to ensure that good quality case papers are prepared promptly to limit the number of cases listed for trial needlessly.

There will always be a proportion of our casework, which proceeds to trial. These cases will now have the benefit of a witness support service operating within the magistrates’ court. We have agreed to provide information to the newly formed service, which will enable support to be offered to prosecution witnesses before and during the trial process.

The Cheshire Area has continued to perform well in relation to the Government pledge to deal with persistent young offenders within 71 days of arrest. By working closely with other agencies we have brought down the time taken to deal with this significant proportion of offenders to an average of 61 days between arrest and the conclusion of proceedings.

During the year we received 76 cases, which the police considered to be racially motivated. In 89.5% of these cases we considered that there was sufficient evidence to establish racial aggravation as defined by section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This legislation increases the maximum penalty available to the court in the event of a conviction.

Caseload (receipts and finalisations)

The chart shows as received the number of defendants whose cases the depends on the number of cases the police send to us. Several factors affect this, such as the level of arrest and the number of people the police caution.

Cases received from April 1 2000 to March 31 2001 is 22,631
Cases dealt with by The CPS from April 1 2000 to March 31 2001 is 23,019
Cases received from April 1 2001 to March 31 2002 is 21,878
Cases dealt with by The CPS from April 1 2001 to March 31 2002 is 21,377

Case Categories

This shows the different types of work dealt with in the Area. They are:

Summary only – cases which can only be tried in the magistrates’ courts.

Indictable/Either Way – Indictable only offences (such as robbery) must be tried in the Crown Court, but either way offences (such as theft) may be tried in either the magistrates’ courts or in the Crown Court.

Cases for Advice – cases in which the police ask for our advice about whether proceedings should be started.

Other Proceedings – non-criminal matters, such as forfeiture under the Obscene Publications Acts.

April 1 2000 to March 31 2001

Total cases dealt with 23,039
Of which summary only 11,433 (49.5%)
Indictable/either way 10,231 (44.3%)
Advice 1,269 (5.5%)
Other 156 (0.7%)

April 1 2001 to March 31 2002

Total cases dealt with 21,377
Of which summary only 11,114 (52.0%)
Indictable/either way 9,313 (43.6%)
Advice 759 (3.5%)
Other 191 (0.9%)

Case Results

April 1 2000 to March 31 2001

Total Case Results 17,836
Of which guilty pleas 15,546 (87.2%)
Proofs in absence 1,176 (6.6%)
After Trial 839 (4.7%)
Other (dismissals) 275 (1.5%)

April 1 2001 to March 31 2002

Total Case Results 17,176
Of which guilty pleas 14,792 (86.4%)
Proofs in absence 1,208 (7.1%)
After Trial 783 (4.6%)
Other (dismissals) 339 (1.9%)

Performance in the Crown Court

Some cases can only be tried in the Crown Court. Other cases go to the Crown Court either because the defendant chooses to be tried there or because the magistrates decide they are serious enough to need Crown Court trial. If a defendant pleads not guilty, the case will be tried before a judge and jury.

CPS Cheshire has dealt with a number of high profile cases during the last year.

With the recent reorganisation of Cheshire CPS into separate units dealing with magistrates and Crown Court work there has been greater focus brought to the more serious cases within the Crown Court Unit (CCU).

This has produced significant improvements, particularly in the quality and timeliness of brief preparation and providing committal papers to the defence.

The Area aimed to provide briefs to counsel to present cases in the Crown Court within time standards in 89% of cases. This target was exceeded, with the unit achieving 95%.

There is also a target to provide the defence with committal papers within 14 days of receiving a trial ready file from the police. This was to be achieved in 78% of cases. In the previous year, the Area failed to achieve its lower target of 73% but with the creation of the CCU there has been an improvement in performance and the target was exceeded and achieved in 88% of cases.

These targets were achieved without sacrificing the overall quality of review work. There was a slight increase in the Area’s receipts compared to last year and a slight decrease in finalisations. This in part may be down to the successes of the CCU stopping weak cases at an early stage. This means that more cases actually proceed to finalisation. This in turn requires more court time and hence the number of cases finalised falls.