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Nightmare on Disclosure Street

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16 March 2018 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7785 / Categories: Features
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The Director of Public Prosecution’s disclosure nightmare seems to be getting worse by the week. Jon Robins reviews the evidence

A recent BBC survey revealed that 97% of criminal defence lawyers had encountered disclosure failures in the last 12 months. Since the botched prosecution of Liam Allan collapsed before Christmas, the Director of Public Prosecution’s disclosure nightmare seems to be getting worse by the week.

The case against the 22-year-old criminology student was dropped three days into the trial at Croydon Crown Court when police were forced to disclose a wealth of digital evidence comprising some 40,000 messages which revealed, amongst other things, that the alleged victim had pestered the young man for ‘casual sex’.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Alison Saunders was asked if it was a possibility that there were people in prison today as a result of disclosure problems. ‘I don’t think so’, she replied, ‘because what these cases show is that when we take a case through to trial there are various safeguards in place, not least of which

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