West Midlands CPS - About Us

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the main prosecuting authority in England and Wales. In our daily operations we work in partnership with all the agencies in the criminal justice system. We work especially closely with the police, although we are independent of them.

Headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP), Keir Starmer QC, the CPS is the largest 'law firm' in the UK.

The CPS has 13 Areas across England and Wales, each headed by a Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP). The West Midlands Area, which consists of the counties of Warwickshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester, Staffordshire and the metropolitan area of West Midlands, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry, is headed up by Harry Ireland. He is supported by two Deputy CCPs, Zafar Siddique who has the Crown Court portfolio of work and Nick Price who has the overall lead for the Magistrates' Court Unit as well as the Area Business Manager, Laurence Sutton.

The Area has also established a Complex Casework Unit in Birmingham to work with the four local police forces of West Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and West Mercia to tackle organised and serious cross border crime.

Together we employ 557 members of staff, which consists of lawyers, paralegal officers and administrators, who serve a population of over five million people.

West Midlands CPS is supported by the Area Operations Centre which houses a team of specialists in the fields of performance, finance, human resources, communications and equality and diversity. They provide advice and guidance to all members of staff within the Area as well as staff from local and government agencies and the general public.

We are committed to placing victims and witnesses at the heart of the justice system in the West Midlands and ensuring that we deal with them in a professional and courteous manner and help them through a process which for many can be a difficult time.

Equally, the Area is committed in ensuring that we are renowned for our professionalism and delivering justice to all members of our communities. If we succeed in this, communities will have confidence in their local justice system, having faith in the fact that their interests are represented and justice is seen to be done.

We are also determined to hit criminals where it hurts the most - in their wallets. Using the powers of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, we claw back the money and property they have acquired through criminal activities.

Should you have any comments on any aspect of this website then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Area News

West Midlands CPS wins the Director's Charity Challenge Trophy

Staff from the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) raised £15,304 for the inaugural Director's Charity Challenge which raised a total of £24,667.18

CPS Areas from across the country were set a challenge by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, to raise as much money for charities in to mark the CPS' 25th anniversary.

Harry Ireland, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS said: "I am very proud that our staff from across the West Midlands raised the greatest sum for various charities, and by a comfortable distance.

"Members of staff held various events, such as bake sales, charity walks, charity tuck shops and a charity ball to raise money for their chosen charities. 

"Their efforts have demonstrated a level of generosity, compassion and selflessness that we should all try to emulate.

"They have all done a fantastic service to the charities that they sponsored as well as demonstrated an innate skill in advocacy by persuading the rest of us to hand over our money."

Emma Garnett, Senior Crown Prosecutor, based in our Public Protection Unit in Birmingham; Pat Williams, Casework Support Officer, based at out Stoke office and Kevin Jones, Crown Advocate based at our office in Shrewsbury accompanied Mr Ireland to our headquarters to collect the award from the Director (picutred).

 

 

Some of the events carried out in the Area included: 

• Emma Garnett ran the New York Marathon on 6 November in aid of Walk-the-Walk a charity concerned in raising money and awareness for breast cancer causes. The sponsorships for this together with a cake sale which ran on 17 October raised a total of £1,800. 
• Pat Williams chose to support Cystic Fibrosis but on a more personal level it was for the 'Kirsty Lawton Trust Fund'. The reason behind this choice was because in 2009, Kirsty Lawton died from Cystic Fibrosis aged just 16. Pat worked with Kirsty's mum, Gail Lawton, a B2 manager based in the same office, since she joined the CPS. Therefore, when Pat heard of the Director's Challenge it was the perfect opportunity to raise some funds for the trust. She sought permission to set up a tuck shop with all profits going to 'Kirsty Lawton Trust Fund'. She also asked for donations of food and gifts. They were able to have three food hampers, a pamper hamper and a beer hamper as well as nearly 100 gifts for the Tombola. They raised nearly £600, which for an office their size exceeded all expectations. 
• Rhiannon Jones, Crown Advocate based at Birmingham office, raised funds for Cancer Research UK by running a tuck shop at the Birmingham office. It generates about £120 to £150 per month in profit which is sent on to the charity. She also organised a Santa Dash in Bridgnorth, Shropshire on 11 December, again for Cancer Research UK. Total raised was approximately £2,500.
• Kevin Jones, organised a Charity Evening on 15 October. The event was organised in memory of Kevin's sister Claire. All funds were donated to the Mouth Cancer Foundation. A total of £2,000 was raised.
• On 1 October Sati Ruck, Crown Advocate from our Birmingham office did a 24 hour charity walk overnight and raised £1,600 for Severn Hospice.
• Helen Whitehead, Senior Crown Prosecutor from our Birmingham office, raised £250 for her local church through selling her handmade cards at a flower festival.  Helen also contributed a total of £60 from the sale of cards at a Macmillan Cancer coffee morning which raised £420 in total.  Helen also sponsored a child in Bangladesh at an annual cost of £300.  Helen has also raised about £20 each for Toybox and Lupus UK from table top boxes and was responsible for securing a charitable payment to Lupus West Midlands of £1,250.
• John Bristow, Senior Crown Prosecutor from our Birmingham office, arranged a Christmas e-card for those wishing to contribute and raised the sum of £285. This amount has been sent to Sightsavers so they can start using it to help blindness straight away. A cataract operation in the developing world costs about £17 so the amount raised will pay for at least 17 of these miracle operations.
• Paul Watts, Casework Support Officer from our Droitwich office, took part in the Movember Challenge to grow a moustache.  The charity raises funds for prostrate and testicular cancer research and raised over £100.
• Jo Wilby, receptionist from the Stafford office organised most of Northern Sector charity days but she paid special attention to Children in Need.  She supplied all of the prizes for the tombola and most of the prizes for the raffle. She organised all the Children in Need days by herself and is so devoted to the charity that she booeds the day off as leave and then came into the office in her Pudsey jumper to deal with the raffle and Pudsey games. Total amount raised was £173.
• A charity home made cake sale was held on 14 November 2011 at Wednesbury CPS which raised £156 for the Haven, Wolverhampton which provides emergency temporary accommodation and support services to women and children who are affected by domestic violence and homelessness.