Attorney-General backs greater role for prosecutors

The Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith QC, has backed Lord Justice Auld's call for a greater role for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the charging of offenders and the disclosure of evidence.Delivering the Tom Sargant memorial lecture in London, he said 'Prosecutors, rather than police, deciding on charges provides a prospect of better-prepared cases and more appropriate charges when cases first enter the system'.

'In large and complex cases, there is an argument for involvement by the CPS at an even earlier stage'.He said allowing the CPS rather than police to identify disclosable material 'would provide a better prospect of avoiding miscarriages of justice, and could also result in weeding out weak cases.'