A POLICE and crime commissioner has raised concerns around the prosecution of rape cases over claims “weak” rape cases could be ditched to improve figures.

Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird QC, spoke out over training sessions on charging delivered to all areas of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by the Director of Legal Services and the Director’s Legal Advisor.

The Guardian this week reported a prosecutor told the national newspaper they were advised if they took “350 weak cases out of the system” their “conviction rate goes up to 61 per cent”.

They also said they were told the CPS “should be winning more trials than we are losing” and it could be achieved with “a touch on the tiller” when charging decisions were made.

The CPS confirmed the workshops took place in 2017 but denied there has been any change in approach to rape cases.

Responding yesterday, Dame Vera Baird said: “The point of the CPS is to bring fair prosecutions, not to deliberately avoid bringing them and to abandon hundreds of victims, in order to make their conviction rate look better.”

She added: “The CPS knows that myths about woman and rape are rife amongst jurors as with the public at large.

“Their job is to use insight and skill to overcome these obstacles to justice.”

The Full Code Test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors states a decision to charge must only be taken when the prosecutor is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and whether a prosecution is required in the public interest.

However, campaigners believe this latest claim could severely limit victims’ access to justice and warn it could lead to cases involving vulnerable complainants being less likely to result in a charge.

A CPS spokesperson said: “The CPS runs ongoing training to ensure our prosecutors have access to the latest information on new and refreshed legal guidance, emerging trends and operational issues. These workshops were designed to support specialist prosecutors with decision-making in difficult cases. It is completely untrue that they signalled a change of approach: every decision on whether to charge must be based on the test set out in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.”