By asking for a not guilty verdict instead of a trial, the Crown Prosecution Service allows guilty defendants to walk free, says former solicitor general

• Crime victims in UK fight ‘devastating’ practice that stops appeal after a case is dropped

In a landmark case this August, Jade McCrossen-Nethercott successfully sued the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for refusing to prosecute the man she says raped her. This, and other cases, have highlighted deep flaws in the CPS’s handling of victims’ rights and the need for reform.

Days before the trial, prosecutors told McCrossen-Nethercott that they were dropping her case. She disagreed and invoked her victims’ right to review (VRR) to challenge the decision. The CPS’s appeal and review unit (ARU) subsequently agreed that the defendant ought to have been prosecuted. His “sleepwalking” defence should have been challenged and he was “likelier than not” to have been convicted.