Yahoo News Police chief admits innocent people are probably in prison because of failure to disclose evidence
A police chief has admitted there are probably innocent people in prison because of failures to disclose evidence in criminal cases.
Surrey Police chief constable Nick Ephgrave conceded it is highly likely that people’s lives have been destroyed because officers and prosecutors didn’t release vital evidence.
His comments came as a report by the BBC claimed more than 900 criminal cases were dropped in 2017 because key evidence wasn’t disclosed.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday if he thought there was anyone in prison as a result of the failure to disclose evidence, he said: “The fact is nobody knows.
“This has been the elephant in the room for some time. I think on the balance of probabilities there probably are.
“It may have been some time ago. It may well be that that evidence is destroyed, and their lives are now destroyed.”
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Last week, Mr Ephgrave’s force admitted flaws after a rape charge against Oxford University student Oliver Mears was dropped ahead of his trial when a diary supporting his case was found.
Almost 1,000 criminal cases were dropped last year, the BBC said, marking a 70% increase in the number of collapsed cases over the course of two years.
It said figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that 916 people had charges dropped last year due to a failure to disclose evidence – up from 537 in 2014-15 and 732 the following year.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the number of dropped cases represented just 0.15% of the total number of prosecutions, but said there were still “systemic disclosure issues”.
The investigation comes after the high-profile collapse of several rape trials, with Scotland Yard announcing a review of its sex crime investigations after two rape cases were dropped in the space of a week in December.
The trial of Liam Allan, 22, was halted at Croydon Crown Court, while days later another prosecution collapsed against Isaac Itiary at Inner London Crown Court.
Angela Rafferty QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, told the BBC that barristers face “a daily struggle in respect of disclosure, delays and all the other disastrous consequences of a system that is openly described by MPs as at breaking point”.
A CPS spokesman said: “We prosecuted more than 588,000 defendants in 2016/17 and our conviction rate was 83%. The number of unsuccessful outcomes due to disclosure issues represents 0.15% of these prosecutions.
“That is still too many, however, and we are clear that there are systemic disclosure issues across the criminal justice system which will require a collective effort in order to bring about improvement.
“Getting this right is a priority, and along with the police and other criminal justice partners we are working to improve how we fulfil these vital disclosure obligations and ensure that cases which should not proceed are stopped as early as possible.
“Last week the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) chaired a seminar with senior figures from the police, judiciary and legal profession to discuss how this may be achieved.
“This was a constructive discussion that generated concrete proposals which we will be pursuing to encourage early, effective engagement between the police, prosecutors and defence.”
