London South
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the main prosecuting authority in England and Wales. In our daily operations we work in partnership with all agencies in the criminal justice system. We work especially closely with the police, although we are independent of them.
The CPS has 14 Areas across England and Wales. CPS London South Area is one of two Areas in the Greater London Area (CPS London North being the other). It covers the London boroughs south of the River Thames and also includes Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster. As well as prosecuting cases investigated by the Metropolitan Police in South London boroughs, the Area also prosecutes cases investigated by City of London Police.
Lionel Idan, Chief Crown Prosecutor
Lionel was called to the Bar in 1996 and prosecuted and defended before joining the CPS in 2005 as a rape and domestic violence specialist.
In 2007, Lionel was appointed a District Crown Prosecutor with responsibility for one of the boroughs in London and in 2009 he was appointed a Senior District Crown Prosecutor with responsibility for one of the six London districts.
During this period Lionel was also the pan-London lead for Domestic Violence and for the Olympics in 2012. He has a passion for championing the rights and justice for victims and witnesses and has previously written and delivered a CPD-approved training course on victimless prosecutions.
In 2014, Lionel acted as the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London and was recognised in the CPS London Awards for his outstanding contribution to the Area. He was also appointed a Disclosure Gateway Reviewer and has conducted disclosure reviews on some of London's most complex and high-profile cases.
In 2015, Lionel was appointed as the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS West Midlands and was responsible for successfully rolling out the Transforming Summary Justice programme across the region's magistrates' courts. Lionel was also appointed the regional lead for Hate Crime.
Between 2016 and 2018, while overseeing the Area’s Crown Court Complex Casework and RASSO units, Lionel also led the only national cross-government agency project on Domestic Abuse which developed and successfully implemented the DA Best Practice Framework across the country.
In 2019, Lionel spent time as Deputy Head of the national Specialist Fraud Division which handles the largest and most complex economic crime cases across the country.
In 2020, he was appointed the Chief Crown Prosecutor for London South and subsequently took up the role of CPS National lead for Hate Crime, a role which sees Lionel working in strong partnership with the NPCC, local CPS Areas and forces, NGOs and community groups in order to raise awareness, promote best practice and improve the joint criminal justice response to Hate Crime across all strands.
Cate Baccas, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor
Cate is the DCCP for the (London-wide) Rape and Serious Sexual Offences unit.
Jessica Walker, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor
Jessica is the DCCP for the London South Magistrates' Court Team and the London Complex Casework Unit.
Jonathan Wettreich, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor
Jonathan is the DCCP for the Crown Court Unit in CPS London South.
He started his career as a Police Officer within the Metropolitan Police Service. He qualified as a Solicitor in 2009 after securing a training contract with Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service. He provided advice on questions of law practice, procedure and sentencing to District Judges, lay Justices and other court users in the areas of family, criminal, civil litigation, youth and magisterial law.
He joined the Crown Prosecution Service in London in May 2014 as a District Crown Prosecutor and was promoted in 2017 to Senior District Crown Prosecutor. In early 2021 Jonathan was appointed as the temporary Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in the East of England and looked after the Crown Court and RASSO teams.
In November 2021 he was appointed Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Yorkshire and Humberside Magistrates’ Court team holding the regional portfolio for Violence against Women and Girls and Domestic Homicide Reviews. He returned to London in June 2024 as the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for London South’s Crown Court and Serious Violence and Organised Crime Unit.
Sharon Boulton, Area Business Manager
Sharon is the Area Business Manager (ABM) for CPS London South. Prior to this she was the ABM for the Special Crime & Counter Terrorism Division (SCCTD) having been appointed in April 2016, and SBM for the Serious Crime Group since May 2008.
Previous to that, she worked for CPS London. More recent posts held included the Business manager for the Homicide Unit and the Fraud Prosecution Service. She has a caseworker background and has carried out a number of Operational Delivery roles including Paralegal Business Manager and Crown Court Admin Manager.
Our Magistrates’ Court Unit prosecutes offences of domestic abuse, assaults, criminal damage, minor public disorder incidents, all but the most serious traffic offences, possession of drugs, dangerous dog offences, offences of dishonesty and commercial burglaries. The list is not exhaustive but generally comprises of any offence where the maximum permitted sentence for each offence does not exceed six months' imprisonment or one year if two or more relevant offences are to be considered.
The Crown Court Unit deals with cases such as attempted murder, robberies, serious assaults, dwelling house burglaries, complex fraud and the supply and trafficking of drugs.
The unit deals with the most complex criminal cases in North and South London. Made up of highly experienced and skilled lawyers and paralegal officers, the team has in the last year gained the first successful prosecution for female genital mutilation and also the first two unregistered school prosecutions. The unit works closely with the police in London (Metropolitan and City of London) to tackle serious and organised crime, including trafficking, large scale drugs importation and distribution, and money laundering.
The RASSO Unit is a dedicated and specialised team which prosecutes cases such as rape, serious sexual offences, child abuse, child sexual exploitation and so-called 'honour based' violence. The staff on the unit all have a great deal of understanding of the sensitivities of prosecuting cases of this nature and how difficult and harrowing it can be for a victim from the first step of making a complaint to the police, through to giving evidence in a trial.
Working with you
CPS London South continues to engage with the diverse communities that we serve in order to ensure that we make this region a safer place to live, work and visit.
We acknowledge that public trust is measured against our ability to work with members of our local communities in key areas. To this end we have two community panels that work on a pan-London basis – one that focusses specifically on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and one that focusses on hate crime.
Our aim is to inform, listen, work with and in turn, be informed by those living and working across south London.
Victims and witnesses
We are committed to dealing with Victims and Witnesses with respect. We understand being a victim and or witness of crime can be difficult and are sensitive to how vulnerable some may feel due to their experiences.
We will ensure that they are dealt with in a professional and courteous manner. We will listen to their needs and support them through the process so that they can give their best evidence at court.
This CPS Area is committed to ensuring that we are renowned for our professionalism, and that we are delivering justice to all members of our communities.
We want communities to continue to have confidence in their local justice system, to believe their interests are fairly represented and justice is seen to be done.
Victims' Right to Review
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.
London South contact point for Victims' Right to Review enquiries:
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 020 3357 7000
Please note that the scheme applies only in relation to qualifying decisions made on or after 5 June 2013.