All rape and sexual assault cases to be 'urgently' reviewed over evidence disclosure
Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Emily Morgan
All current rape and sexual assault cases across England and Wales will be reviewed to make sure evidence disclosure obligations have been met.
It comes after a flurry of cases sparked serious concerns over arrangements surrounding the disclosure to defence teams of crucial evidence.
In the lead-up to trials, police and prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material that either undermines the prosecution case or assists the defence case.
But the regime came under sharp focus after defendants facing rape allegations had the charges against them dropped when critical evidence emerged at the 11th hour.
Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders said steps are being taken to identify any individual cases of concern "as a matter of urgency".
"Inevitably, bringing forward these case reviews means it is likely that there may be a number of cases which we will be stopping at around the same time," she said.
On Friday the Crown Prosecution Service, National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing published a disclosure "improvement plan".
It set out plans to review training on disclosure, develop a cadre of specialist and experienced disclosure experts in every force and provide all multimedia evidence from the CPS to the defence via direct electronic link by July.
The document also commits to reviewing whether there "should be a requirement for officers to hold a Licence to Practise in respect of disclosure" by January 2019.