England: Outgoing DPP warns of lack of skills and resources to process digital evidence

Alison Saunders

On the eve of her exit from the CPS, whose budget was slashed by a quarter during her leadership, Ms Saunders revealed to The Observer that both the CPS and police forces were both struggling to process the amount of data that criminal cases now tend to involve.

Her late-day intervention sheds new light on the known impact of budget cuts on the CPS.

Ms Saunders said that training staff was a “huge issue”, as well as resources, with the CPS having lost a third of its employees due to budget cuts since she took on the top role in 2013.

She said: “In some cases, we’re seeing downloads [of online data] taking six to eight months and you have suspects and witnesses and victims waiting that long for the investigation.

“Take one recent rape case where they met on Tinder – it took 600 police hours to go through the digital material. You can have a judge say ‘I want a download of that iPad’ and it will take 15 officers working all weekend to get it.”

Ms Saunders leaves her post on Wednesday after a controversial five-year term, having come under personal criticism this summer following disclosure failings.

She will join Linklaters as a partner in business crime next month.