Alison Saunders

CPS London is headed by Chief Crown Prosecutor Alison Saunders.

A barrister who has prosecuted some of the country's most infamous criminals Alison Saunders joined the CPS in 1986, the year it was formed.

She was appointed London's Chief Crown Prosecutor after heading the CPS Organised Crime Division which deals with the most serious offences, including human trafficking, immigration, drugs-running, counterfeiting and money laundering, and confiscation of criminals' assets.

Alison spent her early CPS career prosecuting in what was then known as CPS London South and then moved to the CPS Policy Directorate in 1991 where she developed an expertise in issues involving child victims and witnesses. Appointed Branch Crown Prosecutor for Wood Green in 1997, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutor.

Her role in the prosecution of 'Railway Rapist' David Mulcahy - convicted of a spate of sex attacks and murders during the 1980s - was highlighted in a TV documentary in 2001. That year Alison became Chief Crown Prosecutor Sussex, and in 2003 she served as Deputy Legal Advisor to the Attorney General before rejoining the CPS two years later as Head of the Organised Crime Division.

Alison is supported by Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutors (DCCP) Jenny Hopkins, David Robinson, Andrew Baxter and Naheed Hussain, and Business Manager Jean Ashton.

Jenny Hopkins

Jenny Hopkins is Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor with responsibility for the Complex Casework Unit. This comprises of the Special Casework Team (which includes the Police Complaints Team), the Homicide Team, and the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Team.

 

David Robinson

David was called to the Bar in 1993 before joining the CPS as a pupil barrister. He prosecuted the full range of criminal casework in a wide variety of practitioner and managerial positions before being appointed as temporary Chief Crown Prosecutor of Warwickshire in 2008.

In 2009 he was appointed as Chief Crown Prosecutor for Hertfordshire. Following the London disorder of August 2011 he was seconded to CPS London as a Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor to lead the Special Operations Unit responsible for conducting the many prosecutions arising from those events. He is now responsible for the Magistrates' Court Unit.

Naheed Hussain

Naheed Hussain has worked for the CPS for nearly 20 years and she has a wealth of experience managing large teams of prosecutors in some of the biggest metropolitan areas of the country. She joined CPS London this July having previously been Deputy CCP covering the South and East of Wales.

Naheed started out as a junior prosecutor working for CPS Hertfordshire/Bedfordshire before moving to West Yorkshire, where she worked as Senior Crown Prosecutor specialising in Youth Crime. This was followed by a move to Leeds Crown Court unit, where she took up a role as a specialist on racially and religiouslyaggravated crime. During her time in West Yorkshire, Naheed was involved in setting up and managing the first Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel in the country.

After managing teams of prosecutors in Leeds and Bradford, Naheed was promoted to Senior District Crown Prosecutor and led the City of Manchester branch- one of the largest in the country outside London - before moving to the Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and Bury branch. Followingspells as a Deputy CCP and CCP in CPS South Yorkshire, Naheed took up the post of Deputy CCP for CPS Cymru-Wales Area in 2011. She joined CPS London in July and is responsible for the Crown Court North Unit.

Andrew Baxter

Andrew qualified as a solicitor in 1991, working in private practice as a criminal defence advocate before joining CPS Norfolk in 1993. In 2001 he completed an LLM degree by research in employment law. In 2003 he was granted Higher Rights of Advocacy, and his casework focussed on larger scale cases with an emphasis on drugs and confiscation issues.

In 2004 he was made District Crown Prosecutor for West Norfolk, and was appointed Chief Crown Prosecutor for Norfolk in 2009. Following the national re-structure in April 2011, Andrew became Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Eastern Area, covering Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. He had lead responsibility for Violence Against Women, improving the Area performance in the handling of these most important cases and ensured that good practice was shared across the Eastern region. 

Andrew joined CPS London as Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in September 2012 and will be responsible for the London Crown Court South Unit.

Jean Ashton OBE

Jean has worked for the CPS since 1986, transferring over from the West Yorkshire County Prosecuting Solicitors' Department. She moved to the service in London in October 2009 and is responsible with Alison Saunders, for the overall delivery of the prosecution service in London.

Jean is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. In 1986 she transferred to the CPS in West Yorkshire and held a number of positions before being made Area Business Manager in 2001. She moved to Greater Manchester as Area Business Manager in 2006.