South East

Kris Venkatasami, Chief Crown Prosecutor

 

Kris became Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS South East in June 2024.

He was called to the Bar in 1989 and is a specialist in youth and in rape and serious sexual offence (RASSO) cases, as well as a Crown Advocate.

He has worked in a number of units in London throughout his career and led a team overseeing complex cases in the capital before being appointed a Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor (DCCP) in CPS South East in 2014. In this role, Kris had overall responsibility for all RASSO and Crown Court cases and also led on rolling out the Better Case Management initiative.

In 2017 Kris re-joined the CPS in London as DCCP, heading up London South’s Magistrates' Court unit, with a specific brief as the lead on hate crime. In 2021 Kris moved over to lead the London South RASSO team and the pan-London Complex Casework Unit (CCU), before returning to CPS South East as Chief Crown Prosecutor.

He is also the national CPS lead on protest cases.

 

Holly Morton, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor

 

Holly joined CPS South East in November 2022 as the Senior District Crown Prosecutor for the Magistrates’ Courts, before moving to the Crown Court team. In October 2024, she took on the role of Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in the Crown Court and for our Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Team.

Holly has worked in the legal profession since 2002, qualifying as a solicitor in Australia before qualifying in the UK in 2006. Holly has worked for the Crown Prosecution Service in a number of roles, starting as a Specialist Prosecutor before being promoted to legal manager and then to Unit Head.

Holly was involved in preparing the CPS for the casework impact of Brexit and influenced external partners to work proactively to develop future casework tools, in addition to drafting regular contingency updates and Brexit Briefings setting out casework safeguarding measures, shared with public and private sector colleagues across the UK and Europe. Holly worked for the Director of Legal Services and was the lead of Case Progression, a key priority for the CPS.

Holly was also the Unit Head for the International Division where she led and managed the performance of a team of legal managers in the UK and Specialist Prosecutors in 17 overseas jurisdictions, working on international casework assistance and strategic, legislative and capacity building projects.

 

Philip Blunden, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor

 

Philip joined CPS South East in October 2023 as the Senior District Crown Prosecutor for the Magistrates’ Courts and Complex Casework Unit. In September 2025, he took on the role of Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor in same team.

Philip joined the CPS as a prosecutor in 2015, after spending 20 years working in criminal defence. He progressed into legal management in CPS London, working in their Complex Casework Unit, Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Team and the Pan-London Domestic Abuse Unit. 

 

Kirsty Hipwood, Area Business Manager

Kirsty is the Area Business Manager (ABM) for CPS South East. She joined the CPS in July 2001 as a contractor for the Customer Services Department (CSD). Kirsty worked for the CSD for two years.

In 2003 Kirsty joined Business Information Systems (BIS) Directorate as a Business Support Manager and a year later she became a Resource Manager. From 2006 to 2015 Kirsty worked for CPS London in many roles including Area Finance Manager, Project Manager, then District Business Manager, before becoming the Senior Business Manager in 2012.

In 2015 Kirsty was seconded as the Senior Business Manager for CPS South East and a year later became the Area Business Manager. Kirsty joined CPS Proceeds of Crime in September 2019 as the Area Business Manager (ABM) and later became the Area Business Manager for CPS London South in January 2022. She joined CPS South East in November 2024.

Kirsty is responsible for determining and delivering operational strategy (including financial, people and performance) leading the change programme, implementing operational change, managing business performance, and working with stakeholders to develop the CJS wider performance.

The Magistrates’ Court Team is made up of prosecutors, supported by a team of administrators, who help to ensure cases are prepared digitally and ready for court. Our prosecutors either work as advocates in the Magistrates’ Courts across Kent, Surrey and Sussex or in one of our offices preparing cases where we anticipate people will plead not guilty and the case will go to trial. 

The Crown Court team has prosecutors and a team of paralegal and administrative staff, who help to prepare cases. The majority of prosecutors in this team review cases and ensure they are ready for court, but we have a team of Crown Advocates, who prosecute cases in the Crown Court. 

Our Complex Casework Unit (CCU) deals with the most complex cases in the South East and handles one of the largest volumes of complex cases in the country. Their work includes dealing with human trafficking, cross border crimes, “cold case” murders, fatal road collisions, sudden infant death, substantial fraud, money laundering and major public disorder offences. 

Our Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team (RASSO) is staffed by specially trained lawyers and paralegal officers and they handle rape cases, including attempted rape, along with child sexual abuse cases, including historic cases and all other serious sexual offences. 

Riding Gate House
37 Old Dover Road
Canterbury
Kent, CT1 3JG
Telephone: 01227 866000 (General Switchboard)
General Fax: 01227 866001
DX: 5349 Canterbury 1

Millmead House
Millmead
Guildford, GU2 4BB
Telephone: 01227 866000 (General Switchboard)
General Fax: 01483 468282
DX: 122041 Guildford 10

Brighton Police Station
John Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN2 0LA
Telephone: 01227 866000 (General Switchboard)
General Fax: 01273 765606
DX: 149840 Hove 6

Before contacting us please note:

• We do not provide legal advice.
• We cannot enter into email correspondence about cases.
• If you have feedback or a complaint, please use the link on the footer. 

If you are contacting us about a specific case, you will need to contact the team responsible. This is divided by county and whether the case is being held in the Magistrates’ or Crown Court:

Magistrates' courts: [email protected]

Crown Courts: [email protected]

NB: The above email addresses must not be used to send evidence or other material that contains personal data about court cases.

If you are a local or regional journalist in Kent, Surrey or Sussex, please contact

Area Communications Manager
Cheryl Pendry
Telephone: 01227 655862
Email: [email protected]

If you are a member of the national media, please call the CPS Press Office on 020 3357 0906 or email [email protected]
 
Out of hours: 020 3357 0913 for emergency media queries only.

If you would like to provide feedback or make a complaint on any aspect of our service, we would like to hear from you. Please note we can only enter into email correspondence about cases via secure email addresses, i.e. emails sent from gsi or pnn CJSM email accounts.

If you have any feedback or complaints, contact us via email at [email protected] or by calling 01227 866000 and selecting option 3 for the Victim Liaison Unit between 9:00am and 5:00pm on weekdays.

The following email addresses are for the sole use of defence firms who are on the Criminal Justice Secure email system (CJSM).

Please note if you have sent this email from any account other than a CJSM account, we will not respond electronically to your request. Further information on CJSM.

Please ensure that the following information is provided in the email:

SUBJECT BOX - Unique Reference Number (URN) and court centre.
BODY OF EMAIL - Defendant's name, date of birth, date of hearing and nature of request.

Failure to include this information will result in a delay processing your request.

Magistrates' Court
All requests for Initial Detail of Prosecution Cases (IDPC) should be emailed to [email protected]

Area-based charging
For Complex Casework Unit cases, please email [email protected]

If you have a query, correspondence, digital evidence or charging information relating to a RASSO case, please email [email protected]

If you’re interested in joining the Local Scrutiny Involvement Panel or you would like to subscribe to receive our regular newsletters on the work we do to tackle hate crime and violence against women and girls, please contact: [email protected]