Rape victims will have the chance to challenge a prosecutor’s decision to drop their court case for the first time under a new pilot.
Victims in rape and serious sexual assault trials will now be able to ask for a different prosecutor to review their case if the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) intends to offer no evidence against the accused.
The six-month pilot, which will launch on Friday in the West Midlands, effectively gives victims the chance to re-activate cases preventing suspects from walking free if a new prosecutor believes there is enough evidence for the trial to continue.
Today, Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales Baroness Helen Newlove hailed the pilot as ‘a first step toward ending a manifestly unfair practice that denied victims a voice and robbed them of justice’.
A victim’s right to review a case already exists for all criminal cases, but perversely it only applies before the trial starts and cannot be used when the case has been discontinued at court.
