Our People

Sue Patten, Head of the CPS Central Fraud Division

Sue Patten was appointed as the Head of the then Central Fraud Group and joined the Crown Prosecution Service in May 2011 from the Attorney General's Office, where she had been Director of Criminal Law since 2007.

Sue started her career as a trainee legal adviser in the Magistrates' Court in 1983 and became a prosecutor in 1985. Sue has also worked in public law litigation in the Treasury Solicitors' Office, which represents the Government in civil litigation and in 2003 she joined Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as the Head of Law Enforcement and International Division.

Division Heads

Elizabeth Bailey - Fraud Division North

Elizabeth has strategic responsibility for direct tax prosecutions undertaken by the Central Fraud Divison (CFD) and for running the Division's offices in Manchester and York.

She also has responsibility for fiscal and non-fiscal cases arising in the north of England and Wales.

Elizabeth was previously Head of Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office's (RCPO) Division D, which had strategic responsibility for duty and excise evasion, money laundering and cases arising in the north of England and Wales.

Elizabeth joined HM Customs & Excise in 1990 having previously been a solicitor in a private high street practice in Manchester. She was promoted to Head of Division D in 2001.

Andrew Penhale - Fraud Division South (Non-fiscal)

Andrew heads the Division A of the Central Fraud Division, which has the CPS lead on major, complex and high-value frauds. These include "Boiler Room", "Ponzi" and other complex investment frauds, including Land Banking. In addition, Division A is the CPS lead on domestic and overseas corruption cases (involving both public and private enterprises) and cases of arms brokering and export control violations investigated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Prior to joining the CPS, Andrew worked in private practice as a defence solicitor in West Yorkshire, handling a mixed caseload of criminal cases. He joined the CPS Casework Directorate in 2001, specialising in prosecuting serious, complex and sensitive casework, such as serious complaints against police officers including deaths in custody, medical and corporate manslaughter, and organised crime. In 2005, Andrew joined the newly formed Organised Crime Division, which was set up in response to the creation of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and which handles prosecutions involving international trafficking in drugs, humans and firearms and associated money-laundering, as well as cyber-crime and fraud.

He was appointed Unit Head for the North of England in 2007, managing teams in Manchester and York, who prosecuted cases across the country. In 2009, following the merger with the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO), Andrew took on additional responsibility for the former RCPO organised crime team in Manchester. He was appointed as Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in the then Central Fraud Group in August 2011.

Matthew Wagstaff - Fraud Divison South (Fiscal)

Matthew is head of the fiscal section of the Fraud Division South and has strategic responsibility for all indirect tax fraud prosecutions, including all Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud cases, as well as for excise fraud cases. He also has responsibility for stakeholder relationships with HMRC. He took up his current position in January 2010.

Before this, Matthew was Head of RCPO's Division B, which had strategic responsibility for indirect tax fraud prosecutions and, from 2009, was also Head of RCPO's International, Policy and Advisory Division.

Matthew joined HM Customs & Excise as a prosecutor in 1994. He became Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit in 2000 and was promoted to Head of Division B in 2001.