In its report earlier this month on the collapse of a high-profile Chinese espionage case, parliament’s joint committee on the national security strategy found evidence of questionable decision-making, misaligned expectations and failures to take potential opportunities that could remedy problems.
“Some aspects are best described as shambolic,” the report added. “The government and Crown Prosecution Service must reflect… on how best to uphold public confidence in the integrity of the system in the face of public concern.” Ministers have until 3 February to respond.
In the meantime, I have been discussing the committee’s findings with Nick Vamos, a former head of special crime at the Crown Prosecution Service and now head of business crime at the law firm Peters & Peters. As you can hear in the latest edition of A Lawyer Talks, he was surprised at how badly his former employers had handled the case. Vamos explained how the CPS had got it wrong — even though we still don’t understand why.
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