Issue 400  31st May 2025

New resources that will help victims of crime to better understand their entitlements within criminal justice system and to receive a more joined up service from criminal justice agencies have been announced by the Crown Prosecution Service. A package of three new measures has been unveiled to improve communication with victims, as part of a wider programme to make sure standards are consistently high across England and Wales. They include:

• New Victim Service Standards explaining requirements CPS staff should meet when writing and talking to victims, to make clear that victims should expect consistency, empathy and clarity in explaining our decisions.
• New video resources for victims to help them understand the special measures available to help them give their best evidence at court. The videos bring together police, prosecutors, courts, judiciary and victim support providers, to explain what victims of crime can expect when using special measures and the process of applying for them.
• A new framework with police to make sure services are more consistent and joined up across multiple agencies.

The new measures are being delivered as part of overall efforts to improve services to victims of crime revealed by Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, in December last year to help keep them engaged in the justice process. 

The Council has published our response to the fourth annual miscellaneous amendments consultation along with details of amendments we will be making to guidelines. The changes apply to guidelines in both the Crown Court and magistrates’ courts and will come into force on 1 June 2025...

Matters relevant primarily to magistrates’ courts:

• Supplementary information: new guidance on setting a fine for those on a variable income
• New guideline for the offence of using or keeping heavy goods vehicle if levy not paid
• Careless Driving: revising the guideline to change the factors to align with newer guidelines and replace reference to ‘pedestrians’ with ‘vulnerable road users’
• Drive otherwise than in accordance with a licence: adding clarification to the guideline regarding offenders who are entitled to a licence but do not hold one
• Allocation guideline: various changes including changing the name of the guideline; updating the legislative references; changing ‘youths’ to ‘children’; clarifying wording relating to community orders; adding a reference to the Criminal Practice Directions in the Committal for sentence section; and providing additional information by way of an Annex

Matters relevant to magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court:

• Sentencing children and young people guideline: changing references to ‘children and young people’ to ‘children’ in both the title (of this and other guidelines relating to sentencing under 18s) and in the text of all sentencing guidelines; and adding a reference to sentencing young adults at the beginning of the guideline
• Assistance to the prosecution: adding a dropdown to guidelines summarising the approach to be taken.
• Sentencing very large organisations: adding some guidance on sentencing very large organisations to relevant guidelines
• Revenue fraud: adding a sentence table for offences where the maximum sentence has increased from 7 years to 14 years.
• Standard language in guidelines: establishing a standard form of wording in guidelines
• Totality: adding further guidance to the Totality guideline
• Shop theft and Benefit fraud guidelines: adding an expanded explanation to the mitigating factor ‘offender experiencing exceptional hardship’
• Wording relating to community orders in guidelines: clarifying the wording relating to programme requirements and adding a note relating to committal to the Crown Court
• Wording on mandatory minimum sentences: adding a reference stating where the burden of showing that exceptional circumstances exist lies
• Domestic abuse: adding the aggravating factor to more guidelines

Britain’s most senior police officer has criticised ministers for failing to assess the impact on forces of its plans to release prisoners early. Sir Mark Rowley said the scheme to free thousands of offenders early to ease overcrowded prisons would “generate a lot of work for police”. The Metropolitan police commissioner added: “Every time you put an offender into the community, a proportion of them will commit crime [and] will need chasing down by the police.” He said the decision had been made “without any analysis of the impact on policing whatsoever”. Police forces were still waiting for government information on the type of offenders due for early release, he added. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “We’ve asked the Ministry of Justice for the data so that we can understand the exact detail of the types of offenders who will in the future be in communities, so we can work through what the consequence of that are.”

Rowley said the decision would further stretch the resources of police forces still struggling to recover from financial cuts. He said: “We’re carrying the scar tissue of years of austerity cuts, and forces are much smaller when you compare the population they’re policing than they were a decade or 15 years ago.” Rowley joined the head of MI5 and the National Crime Agency in writing to the justice ministry to predict that plans to release prisoners early could be to the “net detriment to public safety”. The letter, first reported in the Times, argued police would need the “necessary resources” in the next spending review to deal with the plan’s impact and maintain order...

The Crown Prosecution Service has today authorised Merseyside Police to charge Paul Doyle, 53 from West Derby, Liverpool, with dangerous driving, causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent, wounding with intent to cause GBH and attempted GBH, following a complex and ongoing investigation into an incident in Water Street, Liverpool on Monday 26 May, 2025. The defendant will appear before Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday 30 May, 2025. The investigation is at an early stage. Prosecutors and police are continuing to work at pace to review a huge volume of evidence. This includes multiple pieces of video footage and numerous witness statements. It is important to ensure every victim gets the justice they deserve. The charges will be kept under review as the investigation progresses...

Criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information or media online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings. Please allow the legal process to take its course without undue speculation...