Secret memo reveals CPS in meltdown with outrageous reserve of cases giving criminals get out of prison free cards

"Meltdown": Criminals are escaping justice despite compelling evidence because of large backlogs of cases in CPS officers, it has been claimed

Criminals are being handed "get out of jail free cards" because of chaos in parts of the Crown Prosecution Service.

A confidential memo written by a senior prosecutor in London warned that one CPS unit was in "meltdown".

It described large backlogs of cases in the south-east London office and pointed to individual offenders escaping justice despite compelling evidence.

The exasperated barrister, writing in July last year, said: "I"m sorry to have to be blunt, but the unit is (in) meltdown...

"We are now in the ludicrous position of having open-and-shut cases dismissed; e.g. where the defendant was seen on CCTV to be placing tracksuits into a foil box!

"What"s more we are at the total mercy of the local defence firms with regard to effective trials...

"Cases were five deep across the whole desk; they"ve now been "relocated" to the cupboard. Out of sight is out of mind I guess."

The email, published by the Independent, was sent eight months after the appointment of Keir Starmer QC as the new Director of Public Prosecutions and head of the CPS.

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The author is withering about an email allegedly sent by Mr Starmer about the "essence" of the service.

He wrote: "And to top it all off, I"ve just had a ridiculous emailfrom the DPP about "Capturing the essence of the new organisation"...

"Ican see stable yard... and the essence of this particular part of theorganisation is currently being forked out of the horse boxes."

An email outlining a senior prosecutor"s concerns was sent eight months before Keir Starmer was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions and CPS chief

Last month a series of nine inspection reports into the CPS in London were published and none of the boroughs inspected achieved a rating of "good".

Lewisham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Redbridge were rated "poor" and Bexley, Waltham Forest, Havering and Barking and Dagenham were rated "fair".

The overall conviction rate in London is 72.7 per cent, compared with a national average of 80.6 per cent.

Stephen Wooler, Chief Inspector of the CPS, said he had "serious concerns" about the preparation of court files which was affecting conviction rates in the capital.

A CPS spokesman said: "This email was written by a lawyer who left the CPS before many of the recent improvements were introduced.

"It was written eight months ago, shortly after staff had moved into the police station, so it was a time of some upheaval. Our staff are now telling us that they are well settled in that location.

"Since that time we have been urgently working to improve our performance in the area and in London generally.

"We"re recruiting more prosecutors and paralegal officers and have moved 45 members of staff to the front line to improve preparation of cases and to ensure hearings operate as smoothly as possible."

Baby hold at Yarls Wood for 100 days says arch jail inspector

Richard Ford, Home Correspondent. & , : {}

A family with a baby were detained for 100 days in an immigration reception centre, according to a watchdog report published today.

The Chief Inspector of Prisons said young children were being held for too long at the Yarls Wood centre in Bedfordshire.

Dame Anne Owers said that on two occasions in the past year force had been used on children being removed from the centre in preparation for deportation.

She said there had been significant improvements at the centre, which is run by the private firm Serco. However, given that the fact of detention adversely affected childrens welfare, inspectors were concerned that their detention did not appear to be exceptional or necessary, given that half the families families detained were later released under temporary admission [to the UK], she added.

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In a six-month period 420 children were held at the centre but half of them were subsequently released back into the community. Some children and babies had been detained for considerable periods 68 over a month and one, a baby, for 100 days, even after social workers had indicated concerns about their and their familys welfare, her inspection report said.

Three detainees had been held for two years and more, and one Zimbabwean woman, held for almost two years, was awaiting an appeal court hearing.

A Nigerian woman held for 13 months had to wait a year to confirm her claim of having Nigerian nationality.

Dame Anne said that one reason for detainees being held for so long was the time it takes foreign embassies to issue travel documents to their citizens.

Yarls Wood holds about 300 immigrants, mostly failed asylum seekers and their families. Lawyers for four women held in the centre have launched a judicial review of conditions, alleging that they amount to a systematic disregard for human dignity.

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, called for an urgent rethink of government policy. She said: Detaining children is inhumane, unnecessary and a waste of money, and must not be allowed to continue.

While we welcome any improvements that have been made to conditions at Yarls Wood, the fact that half of all children detained are eventually released back into the community shows that detention is being inappropriately used.

Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, said that detaining some illegal immigrants was necessary because they refused to return home. He said: The sad fact is that some illegal immigrants refuse to comply with the decision of the independent courts and return home voluntarily.

The alternatives to centres like Yarls Wood include putting children into care, which would mean separating them for their parents and risking increased child trafficking and further illegal immigration.

Mr Woolas added: Detention is a vital tool in removing those deemed to have no right to remain in the country. Removal centres are a necessary part of enforcing the removal of those who refuse to depart voluntarily.

Retiring M&S arch jumps to tip of compensate league

Marcus Leroux: Retail Correspondent & , : {}

Sir Stuart Rose is set to turn the FTSE 100s best-paid authority as Marks & Spencer risks an additional flare-up with investors.

M&S yesterday allocated headhunters to find a inheritor to Sir Stuart as it suggested that he will have an annual income of 875,000 for his last couple of months with the association as non-executive authority after he hands the day-to-day utilizing of the association to Marc Bolland.

The income puts him at the tip of the blue-chip income league, forward of Sir Philip Hampton of Royal Bank of Scotland, who is paid 750,000, and David Reid of Tesco, whose pre-tax increase last year were 4 times those of M&S. His simple income is 610,000.

Sir Stuart will turn non- senior manager authority at the M&S annual assembly on Jul 31 and leave the association subsequent March, a couple of months forward of the strange deadline of Jul 2011.

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M&S shielded his income as a thoughtfulness of his chairmanship being full-time. However, in the matter to the batch sell when Mr Bolland was appointed, M&S pronounced that Sir Stuart would work part-time. Sir David Michels, the emissary chairman, said: What we are asking for from Stuart is full-time working. Most chairman, however tough they work, arent full-time.

Sir David pronounced that he and Steven Holliday, National Grid arch senior manager who is a non-executive executive at M&S and head of the agreement committee, had consulted half a dozen large shareholders. Mr Bolland, who is due to begin on May 1, is accepted to have authorized the arrangement.

Big shareholders indicated this year that they approaching Sir Stuart to take a compensate cut when he stepped behind to turn non-executive chairman. His new income represents a twenty-five per cent cut on the 1.16 million he is paid now. Mr Bolland will have a simple income of 975,000 but the conditions of his package meant that he stands to consequence up to 14.8 million in his initial year.

Industry insiders are bustling speculating about Sir Stuarts successor. Roger Carr, the former Cadbury chairman; Lord Myners, the City apportion and M&S veteran; and Victor Blank, the former Lloyds chairman, were between the early names to emerge.

FTSE salaries

1 Barclays 750,000

2 RBS 750,000

3 Royal Dutch Shell 727,500*

4 Rio Tinto 693,000

5 BAT 620,000

6 Tesco 610,000

7 BP 600,000

8 Unilever 574,000*

9 Vodafone 560,000

10 GlaxoSmithKline 540,000

*converted from euros utilizing sell rate at finish of companys monetary year Source: Income Data Services

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Real Madrid humour shock better by Lyons Football

Matt Hughes, Deputy Football Correspondent, Madrid & , : {}

If the prevalent believe that it is receptive to advice to outlay ones approach out of retrogression binds loyal for football afterwards Barclays Premier League clubs should prop themselves for an additional summer of suffering from Spain after Real Madrid suffered the footballing homogeneous of a remarkable failure last night.

Lyons cursed the majority costly side ever fabricated to a sixth unbroken Champions League exit in the spin of 16, a degrading method of formula for a bar of their ambitions. Even the substantial ego of Cristiano Ronaldo will have been pricked by this annoyance and the Portuguese might outlay the rest of the deteriorate pining for Manchester.

Not even Florentino Prez can speak his approach out of this one. The returning boss outlayed 240 million last summer in the idea of bringing behind the excellence days in that Real won this foe twice in 3 years at the spin of the decade, but the building a whole magnates grand plan is in hull and he faces a duration of extensive rebuilding.

That routine will probably not engage Manuel Pellegrini, the physical education instructor who seems sure to spin the clubs tenth misadventure in 7 years at the finish of the season, if not before, notwithstanding streamer Real to corner tip of La Liga.

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Jos Mourinho is tip of Prezs managerial selling list, with the Inter Milan coachs fortify and tactical astuteness precisely what is indispensable to spin the clubs costly tender materials in to silverware.

Reals agonise will be exacerbated by the ruinous of their mental condition of winning a tenth European Cup when the last is hold at the Bernabu, and the even some-more unpleasant awaiting of Barcelona maintaining the prize here in May. The clubs fans will rail and yell at the misapplication of it all after they tranquil last nights diversion for prolonged spells the Spanish side played 601 successful passes to Lyons 291 and enjoyed 67 per cent of the receive but have usually themselves to blame.

Real spurned large opportunities during a initial half in that their prevalence was as conspicuous as Arsenals opposite Porto the prior evening, but were overcome with nerves after half-time and resorted to unfortunate acts of individualism, as Pellegrini conceded. We attempted to find particular solutions rather than common solutions as well often, that was a pity, the Chilean said. But this is a long-term plan rather than a short-term project. Its not the time to speak about removing sacked.

This extreme showboating and rapacity is at the heart of Reals problems and needs to be addressed, nonetheless it did not crop up to be opposition them in the initial half as Ronaldo and Kaká in jeopardy to run amok. Ronaldo non-stop the scoring with a pretentious set upon in the sixth minute, his seventh in 6 Champions League matches this season, that he lashed in between Hugo Lloriss legs with a first-time shot.

It was the initial idea Lyons had conceded in 626 mins of football, but with improved finishing Real would have been out of steer by half-time. Gonzalo Higuaín was the majority culpable, attack a post with the idea at his forgiveness after rounding Lloris and streamer far-reaching from close range.

Real were slow on these disappointments at the begin of the second half as they let Lyons behind in to a diversion that should have been over them. The longer the compare went on, the some-more shaken Real became, as if the believe that an afar idea would discharge them began to harass afar at their souls, a fright that valid prophetic.

Lyons were some-more brave than their wavering hosts and their arrogance paid off in the 75th notation as they scored a pleasing group idea formed on one-touch flitting that Arsenal would have been unapproachable of. Csar Delgado found Lisandro López, who upheld the round on to Miralem Pjanic, who kick Iker Casillas from close range.

Pjanics idea widespread panic, but Real were as well bombard repelled to furnish any genuine response, that contingency wait for until the unavoidable blood-letting starts in the summer. The common suspects from England of Cesc Fàbregas, Steven Gerrard and maybe Wayne Rooney will be targeted in earnest, nonetheless since Ronaldos chastening experience, they will be retiring to follow him here.

What the bar unequivocally need is a physical education instructor able of creation their existent players duty as a team. He will not come cheap, but that man is Mourinho.

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Beware robots temperament snacks From the Observer The Observer

Watch out Snackbot doesn’t have a blade underneath the fruit.

The drudge servant has a prolonged and often checkered history. From Robbie the Robot in Forbidden Planet (who could move a easily jarred martini) by to HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (which served food around a hatch, afterwards after killed you), the thought that there contingency be a improved process of removing refreshments handed out than creation a chairman pull a trolley is one that usually won"t go away.

So in the poke of that majority fugitive of robotic holy grails, Paul Rybski and his group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have outlayed dual years and $20,000 to set up a "snackbot" with laser navigation, sonar sensors and a Point Grey Bumblebee 2 stereo camera (that"s the eyes).

And what does it do? Delivers snacks. True, the initial charge in front of a examination New York Times contributor – delivering a granola club – would frequency taxation the normal three-year-old. "Hello, I"m the Snackbot," it pronounced as it headed over. "I"ve come to broach snacks to Ian. Is Ian here?"

The Snackbot is usually one of dozens of robots that are rising to have food. You can get a in progress drudge from Fanxing Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, China; it can fry, bake, bring to boil and steam Chinese delicacies. Not to be outdone, scientists at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, built the Chief Cook Robot. Its speciality: omelettes.

Why? Because omelettes appear similar to a nice, non-threatening sort of meal. In fact, the total thought of drudge chefs (and snackbots) is to get us used to the thought that they"re usually good servants which, once costs tumble far enough, will be all around us.

Perhaps. Then again, it"s Japan that"s heading the approach in drudge food preparation, with the Famen grill in Nagoya utilizing dual robots means to prepare up to 800 bowls of ramen (noodles) daily. The complaint is that they do cost about £80,000 each. And when there aren"t sufficient customers, they put up with in a pre-programmed blade fight. Remember HAL? Then keep transparent of the ramen robots.

Cutbacks to air wave radio and online output

Patrick Foster, Alexi Mostrous, Andrew Billen and Chris Campling & , : {}

Renaissance for BBC Two

Since couple of go pennyless underestimating open taste, a preference by any piece of the media to move upmarket is rare.

The explanation that the BBC will lay out the behest for renouned foreign, ie American, shows and sports rights auctions might do small for the assembly share but, with a small luck, most for the repute between those who will establish the subsequent looseness price settlement.

The big headlines is the due rebirth of BBC Two as a place to think rather than a place to listen to Jeremy Clarkson rant. But merely peaceful higher peculiarity does not safeguard it. The BBC will still have to buy the right US programmes and find the writers to coop the classier internal play betrothed for BBC One. After so most Holbys and Mistresses, let us goal it still recognises what distinctive, public-service air wave essentially is.

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One distance air wave doesnt fit all

If Radio 6 is right away strictly a passed duck, afterwards it seems as though the BBC is additionally formulation to kill the golden goose.

Stuffing Radio 2 with outlay from alternative stations looks less expected to furnish foie gras than an tasteless mess. Jazz? Thatll be Radio 3. Documentaries? Radio 4. Speech programming? Radio 5. Comedy? Radio 4 and 7.

A one-size-fits-all air wave hire functions usually if there exists such a thing as a one-size-fits-all listener and the reason we have so most opposite stations is since there is no such thing.

Still, one great thing if Radio 2 intends to cut down on the song content, maybe the unequaled Simon Mayo will be means to benefaction his drivetime show but carrying to punctuate smart speak about the affairs of the day with often inapt pop.

Size of website to be halved

Halving the distance of the BBCs website will have a surpassing stroke on the online operations and will be welcomed by competitors.

BBC Online was one of the fastest flourishing sectors and has a bill of �112 million a year. That will be cut by about �23 million, or about twenty-five per cent. Staff numbers will be marked down by the same proportion. It will meant fewer imitation stories and a tighter concentration on producing strange video and audio content.

Pressure from internal newspapers has already caused the BBC to dump the �68 million plans to launch hyper-local video services. The topping on the cake, generally for newspapers, is a guarantee to yield links on the website to outmost organisations covering the same issue online. The reforms could force Erik Huggers, the BBCs record chief, to leave.

Magazines could be sole off

Just the discuss of the name BBC Worldwide is sufficient to conjure up up pursed lips on the faces of management team from most blurb players.

The BBCs blurb arm, that pumps �1 billion a year behind in to the corporation, has been indicted of aggressively trampling in to areas of no aptitude to the BBC, such as the 2007 merger of Lonely Planet, the manual publisher, for �90 million.

Although this examination does not appear to cruise any idea of wide-ranging shift to Worldwide, it does suggest joy to the opposition British repository publishers. Commercial companies would reserve up to tell publications such as the Radio Times and Top Gear magazine. The revelation that Worldwide should in a little approach allot with the British repository arm will be met with great cheer. Perhaps some-more importantly, it is well known to be a process lucky by Jeremy Hunt, who will be Culture Secretary if the Tories win the ubiquitous election.

The Alan Partridge factor

The BBCs internal outlay infrequently escapes the extreme inspection that the inhabitant network services face.

The house will commence not to get some-more local, but at the same time the BBC Trust is accepted to hold that the broadcasters internal air wave stations need to improve, and ensure opposite slipping in to the parochial, ordinary character immortalised by Steve Coogans comic origination Alan Partridge, a DJ on the illusory Radio Norwich.

Local listeners will worth improved peculiarity headlines bulletins when they are pushing to and from work, but the corporations armed forces of informal reporters will be twitchy about plans to have make use of of syndicated calm in non-peak hours, that can usually meant pursuit cuts.

Michael Owen bows to Wayne Rooneys mass from the sidelines | International Football

James Ducker, Northern Football Correspondent & , : {}

Michael Owen could be forgiven for feeling the occasional severe pain of possessiveness towards Wayne Rooney, but the one-time golden child of English football had zero but regard last night for the internal scally done great and the benefaction dispatcher of that sold crown.

It is rather mocking that the improved Rooney gets, the some-more repairs he inadvertently inflicts on his Manchester United and someday England team-mate, but whilst Owen has found himself marked down increasingly to the fringes for bar and nation as Rooney runs riot, there are no feelings of bitterness.

As Rooney has been showered with roughly concept regard en track to scoring seventeen times in his past eighteen matches for United, Owen appears in risk of apropos a lost man, but carrying hogged the limelight at the responsibility of others in the past, the former Liverpool and Real Madrid brazen was happy sufficient to stick on the carol of capitulation for Englands most appropriate player.

Asked if Rooney was as great as anybody in the universe at the moment, Owen said: Unfortunately for me, yes, given it equates to I get less time, but hes fantastic.

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He is as he comes opposite a internal scally unequivocally thats come good. Hes a enormous kid and a enormous player. A lot of people describe to him, the approach he plays. Thats since hes so renouned the England fans sing his name, the United fans sing his name.

Hes been positively fantastic, his finishing is unbelievable, and his ubiquitous fool around if he continues this, he will be one of the worlds best.

Owen was less upbeat about his prospects of being enclosed in Fabio Capellos patrol for the World Cup finals in the summer. Its been a prolonged time given I was in the England squad, he said. You never give up but the probably a prolonged shot in racing terms. In that sense, Owen contingency consternation if he done the right preference fasten United on a free send last July.

He insisted yesterday that the tough not to suffer it when youre winning games, youre personification well and in amongst the lads, but with each week that passes, as first-team opportunities spin some-more rare, Owen falls over down the England pecking order, to the point where Bobby Zamora, the in-form Fulham striker, stands a improved possibility of inclusion in Capellos twenty-three for South Africa.

Owen has played usually 160 mins of football for United given the spin of the year and done usually dual starts given scoring a hat-trick afar to Wolfsburg in the Champions League on Dec 8.

With Dimitar Berbatov, Uniteds �30.75 million jot down signing, not regularly starting games given of Rooneys form, Owen stands no chance, so most so that it will be no warn if he leaves Old Trafford in the summer.

Owen is approaching to be on the substitutes dais again for Uniteds Barclays Premier League compare at home to West Ham United this evening, nonetheless he might begin the Carling Cup last opposite Aston Villa at Wembley on Sunday if Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, opts to margin the reserves. Owen, though, stays bullish. Its been great, at your convenience Im called upon, Im fit and ready, he said. Of march you wish to fool around a bit some-more but Ive had a little enormous times already at United.

Ferguson could span Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic in executive counterclaim opposite West Ham for the initial time in roughly 4 months as the physical education instructor looks to seaside up a behind 4 that has shipped five goals in the past dual matches.

Ferdinand is accessible after completing a four-match cessation for aroused control and Vidic, who was an new surrogate in the 3-1 better by Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday, could be in line to begin after 7 weeks out with a calf problem.