New CPS head

Alison Saunders, currently the Chief Crown Prosecutor London, has been selected to be the new Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Keir Starmer, the current DPP will step down at the end of October. Saunders joined the CPS in 1986, the year it was formed, and has prosecuted some infamous criminals, including “Railway Rapist” David Mulcahy. Saunders was head of the CPS Organised Crime Division which deals with the most serious offences. She says she hopes to ensure the CPS continues to improve and reform “both within the CPS and more widely in the criminal justice system”.