England: More than 300 rape convictions to be reviewed following disclosure concerns

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has announced it will look at 306 convictions made between April 2016 and March of this year – cases it had previously refused to refer for new appeals.

The CCRC said in a statement that in each case it will “consider the approach of and the interaction between the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the relevant police force regarding disclosure in the case itself” and “its own previous approach (during the previous CCRC review of the case) to the disclosure process in the prosecution in question” with a view to reporting by 29 March 2019.

It said: “The CCRC observes that other organisations – most notably the CPS and the Attorney-General’s Office – have recently undertaken review work aimed at live prosecutions, prosecutions which have recently been dropped by the CPS, and the operation of the disclosure regime overall.

“Although such work is vital and is to be welcomed, the CCRC considers that it is equally important for any review of disclosure to consider completed cases that have resulted in convictions. The CCRC’s Chair has emphasised this same point in a recent letter to the Attorney-General. It is this need to consider completed cases which has led the CCRC to devise the internal review which is discussed below.”