Political

Dear Labour MP: will you be listening to what the Director of Public Prosecutions has to say?

Powers to allow terrorist suspects to be detained without charge for 42 days are not needed and are unlikely to find favour with the judges who would have to approve them, the Director of Public Prosecutions said yesterday.

Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, who heads the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “In our experience, the 28-day limit works well.” He said that the CPS special counter-terrorism unit was enjoying a 92 per cent conviction rate compared with 77 per cent in other trials, and there was an increase in guilty pleas by terror suspects.

“We have had major, major cases that have occurred within the currency of that time limit, since it was legislated for, and haven’t encountered any difficulties in charging those we have wanted to charge and that’s why we have not requested any extension,” he said. [The Times]

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