England: Dossier reveals evidence undermining prosecution cases being deliberately withheld

Police officers are being trained to withhold evidence that might undermine their case, according to the documents.

Comments in the file include one prosecutor saying: “In even quite serious cases, officers have admitted to deliberately withholding sensitive material from us and they frequently approach us only a week before trial. Officers are reluctant to investigate a defence or take statements that might assist the defence or undermine our case.”

The file contains reports of 14 focus groups with police and others with judges and prosecutors as well as a survey of prosecutors.

The findings come in the wake of a series of rape trials that collapsed after previously withheld evidence came to light.

One comment from the police focus group stated: “If you don’t want the defence to see it, then goes on the MG6D” — a reference to a list of sensitive unused material which the defence cannot access.

An inspector said that police “have been trained to put items on there that they do not want disclosed to the defence”. A prosecutor confirmed this practice, stating that “officers put undermining material on the MG6D list to hide”.

In a report on focus groups with judges, inspectors record a judge saying: “There seems to be an idea that the defence is not entitled to see things but where the defence press matters, this yields results.”

The dossier was acquired by the Centre for Criminal Appeals, a charity, under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Inspectorate as well as the Inspectorate of Constabulary.