Osborne pressed for extra funding to pay for historic abuse cases

By The Press Association10th February 2015News EnglandBusiness / Funding / Finance, Child Abuse, Finance, News England, Non-Recent / Historic Abuse, Sexual Abuse

Ministers are asking Chancellor George Osborne for extra money for public prosecutors so they can deal with a spike in historic sex abuse cases.

Attorney General Jeremy Wright confirmed that he is “talking to the Treasury” about extra funding for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is dealing with an increase in “complex, difficult” historic abuse cases.

The Government’s chief legal adviser said he was “sure that they (the Treasury) will understand the case we are making”.

He spoke after director of public prosecutions (DPP) Alison Saunders claimed last month the CPS needed between £25 million and £50 million to deal with the increased workload.

There has been a spike in historic sex abuse cases in recent years, widely attributed to high profile scandals involving celebrities such as Jimmy Savile and allegations of a Westminster paedophile ring making victims more willing to come forward.

Mr Wright spoke after shadow solicitor general Karl Turner asked whether he was lobbying the Chancellor for more money for the CPS to deal with these cases, given that it has undergone heavy cuts under the coalition.

The Attorney General replied: “I don’t think, first of all, that the cuts to the CPS have been ill thought through.

“Certainly, they have been significant and they have had to be significant, I’m afraid, because of the huge economic mess left by your party (Labour) when you left government. We have had to take these decisions.

“But what the CPS, I think, have done extremely well is manage those reductions in their budget.

“They have not – and I think you would support this as an approach – they have not decided not to prosecute where they think it’s appropriate to prosecute cases.

“But there is no doubt, and this is something that the DPP is recognising in what she is saying, there is no doubt an increase in the type of complex, difficult, historic sex abuse cases, and we must recognise that.

“We are talking to the Treasury about exactly that and I am sure that they will understand the case that we are making.”

Mr Turner had asked: “The director of public prosecutions has been to the Attorney on bended knee begging for £50 million so that she is able to prosecute serious cases.

“Have you asked the Chancellor for this emergency funding? If not, why not?

“And if you have asked the Chancellor, what has he said about helping to plug the funding gap caused by ill thought through cuts to the CPS?”

In a separate answer, Mr Wright confirmed: “The Crown Prosecution Service is working closely with the Treasury to manage the impact of increasing numbers of large and complex cases including non-recent sex abuse cases and to ensure the CPS has the resources to prosecute serious crime effectively and efficiently.

“Future funding will be determined as part of the spending review process in the usual way.”

Meanwhile, Tory Philip Davies (Shipley) called for the “millions” being spent on the retrial of senior Sun newspaper executives accused over payments to corrupt public officials should be redirected to pursuing historic sex abuse cases.

Mr Davies said the cost of the case weighed up next to the likelihood of conviction meant the retrial is not justified.

At law officers’ questions in the Commons, Mr Davies said: “You have made clear that funding is an issue and that discussions are going on with the Chancellor.

“Given that, is it sensible that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are committing millions of pounds in a retrial of some journalists when there is clearly no realistic prospect of conviction?

“Money that could be much better spent in pursuing some of the historic sex abuse cases.”

He added: “Will the cost of the case and the likelihood of a conviction together be part of a public interest test that the Crown Prosecution Service should go through?

“Because it seems to many people that a retrial is not justified on that basis.”

The Attorney General said it was important that the CPS does not take into account cost when deciding whether to prosecute a case and stressed that the public interest test does take into account likelihood of conviction.

Mr Wright replied: “I think it is important though to recognise two things – first of all, there should be no cases where what you do or who you are prevents the Crown Prosecution Service from following the evidence where it leads.

“They should do that in every case.

“Secondly, some cases are complex and difficult and take time to try and time to prepare – that increases their cost.

“We cannot, I think, say that we should not prosecute something because it is too expensive.”

Sun head of news Chris Pharo, ex-deputy news editor Ben O’Driscoll, reporter Jamie Pyatt and former managing editor Graham Dudman face a retrial after a jury failed to reach verdicts on some charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office last month.

Two fellow defendants – the Sun’s picture editor John Edwards and former reporter John Troup – were cleared of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

Pharo, 45, of Sandhurst in Berkshire; Dudman, 51, of Brentwood in Essex; and O’Driscoll, 38, of Windsor in Berkshire, were all originally charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Pyatt, 51, also of Windsor, was charged with two counts each of the same offence.

O’Driscoll and Dudman were found not guilty of one of the charges, along with Mr Edwards and Mr Troup.