It is with dismay that I read your article highlighting the concern of justices’ clerks about losing their independence when they become civil servants in April next year (see [2004] Gazette, 17 June, 18).

I am one of 12 newly appointed senior crown prosecutors put in post by virtue of funding provided by the Home Office to assist their areas in adopting the legislation in relation to anti-social behaviour.


Along with a representative from the Home Office I addressed the same Justices’ Clerks’ Society annual conference that the attorney-general addressed.


Crown prosecutors have been civil servants for some time, and when it is suggested that they cannot exercise independence because of this fact it is highly insulting professionally - a point I myself made to the Society in answer to comments made by members of the audience after my address to the conference.


No matter who your employer happens to be, as a solicitor or barrister your first loyalty has to be to your own professional body. Despite the fact that I am now championing anti-social behaviour prosecuting on behalf of Lancashire Crown Prosecution Service, there is no way I would be persuaded to make decisions on cases other than by implementing the duty conferred on me under the Prosecution of Offences Act, namely, considering the code for crown prosecutors, and both the evidence test and the public interest test.


My independence will never be compromised while I ensure I always adopt the code. I think the justices clerks are concerned unnecessarily. They, like all of us, need to be concerned about narrowing the justice gap, listening to the public’s concerns and reassuring members of that same public that those of us concerned with the criminal justice system care.


Those justices clerks with whom I have had dealings during my 15 years prosecuting have always acted with independence and I believe that simply because they become civil servants that will not change.


Susan J Crabb, Senior Crown Prosecutor, Lancashire