Mersey-Cheshire

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is responsible for prosecuting criminal cases, which are investigated by the Police in England and Wales. CPS Mersey-Cheshire is one of 14 CPS areas across England and Wales and is led by our Chief Crown Prosecutor, Sarah Hammond.

CPS Mersey-Cheshire covers the counties of Merseyside and Cheshire.

Liverpool is the main centre of population, boasting a large city centre, a number of high profile sports clubs, working port and busy nightlife. This unique socio-economic and cultural mix can provide challenges to our service and generate peaks and troughs in certain crimes - such as public order offences during large events.

Merseyside is unique in that it has just one Crown Court centre. However the caseload dealt with by the CPS team is significantly higher than some Areas three times its size. More serious cases are heard at Liverpool Crown Court. There are three magistrates' court centres in Merseyside - Liverpool, Bootle and Wirral.

Cheshire comprises the council areas of Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East and includes population centres such as Warrington, Runcorn, Chester, Macclesfield and Crewe.

CPS Merseyside-Cheshire area map

CPS Mersey-Cheshire

There are two Crown Court centres - Chester and Warrington - as well as three magistrates' court centres in Chester, Warrington and Crewe.

Our legal team is made up of highly qualified, trained prosecutors and professionals who manage and conduct criminal prosecutions at a number of different levels.

In the last year, almost 88 per cent of our prosecutions in the Area’s Magistrates’ Courts resulted in a conviction. In the same period, 80 per cent of our cases in the Crown Court resulted in a conviction.

Senior Crown Advocates and Crown Advocates work on the most serious and complex cases. Essentially the CPS equivalent of barristers, they will argue for the prosecution at court against defence lawyers.

Our teams of prosecutors and associate prosecutors prepare and present cases and prosecute offenders at Magistrates' and Crown Courts.

They are supported by paralegal officers and paralegal assistants who help prepare cases, work with the police to build files and sometimes join the prosecutor in court.

Our operational delivery and support teams play a role as vital as those of our prosecutors. The teams manage and build files, liaise with partners to obtain the correct information and ensure each file is up-to-date and at the court ready for trial.

Victims and witnesses are at the heart of what we do and we have a team of specially trained people working in our Witness Care Unit who help and support people through each stage of the justice process.

 

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Working with you

CPS Mersey-Cheshire is committed to involving local people in what we do, whenever we can. We value the expertise and grassroots knowledge of community and voluntary sector groups who help ensure that we can continually improve the service we provide.

Local Scrutiny and Involvement Panel

Community engagement is important to us and we involve key stakeholders in improving our service through our Local Scrutiny and Involvement Panel (LSIP). The panel aims to:-

  • ensure that CPS Mersey-Cheshire considers the views of communities in order to identify local concerns;
  • undertake scrutiny of our work on hate crime, Violence Against Women and Girls, and cases of local interest, to improve local performance and support victims and witnesses effectively;
  • undertake consultation with local communities on strategies and plans with specific reference to improving policy, casework, employment and training; and
  • assist CPS Mersey-Cheshire in ensuring the effective delivery of Core Quality Standard 12 and demonstrating compliance with the Equality Act 2010.

The Panel is the key mechanism by which the Area engages with local communities, in particular, those communities with protected characteristics in relation to age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexuality.

LSIP meetings are chaired by the Chief Crown Prosecutor or, in their absence, a Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor.

If you would like further information about the LSIP please contact Jennifer Friday, our Inclusion and Community and Engagement Manager on [email protected]

Victim Liaison Unit

Sometimes, the prosecution decides to discontinue a case or substantially alter a charge.

When this happens, we will tell victims or their families what we have done and why.

In some of the more serious cases, we will offer to meet the victim or their family to explain our decision.

Our Victim Liaison Unit handles all of these communications, as well as complaints and the Victims' Right to Review (VRR) scheme.

The VRR scheme makes it easier for victims to seek a review of a CPS decision not to bring charges or to terminate proceedings.

If you are a victim seeking to exercise your right to request a review of a CPS decision not to bring charges, discontinue proceedings or offer no evidence in a case please first see our Victims Right to Review page for more information.

For VRR enquiries and applications, please use the Contact page on this website in the first instance.

Please note that the Victims' Right to Review scheme applies only to qualifying decisions made on or after 5 June 2013.

If you'd like more information on a case, have a complaint, a general enquiry or would like to know more about the Victims' Right to Review scheme, email [email protected] 

Victims' Right to Review