Jenny Wiltshire in Telegraph on impact of digital evidence rules on rape prosecutions
6 Jan 2025
Hickman & Rose’s Head of Serious and General Crime Jenny Wiltshire has been quoted in the Daily Telegraph commenting on the steep rise in the number of rape prosecutions dropped by the CPS.
The CPS drops an average of ten rape prosecutions a week – more than three times more than it did in 2019. In every one of these an individual would have been charged and was awaiting trial when the case was dropped.
Jenny said the sharp increase is likely to have been influenced by 2022 changes to the rules on how the police should handle digital evidence, especially on mobile phones.
She said: “I have seen a significant increase in cases where a rape complainant’s mobile phone has not been examined by the police, despite there being clear reason to do so.
“Suspects are being charged in the absence of potentially crucial exculpatory evidence, and are then waiting for months – even years – for a trial date.
“It is only as we approach trial that the police and CPS, under pressure from the defence team (and also, on occasion, the trial judge), agree to look at the phone properly.”
Read the full article here.
