DPP: 'We cannot afford another Savile moment'

Ahead of his announcement on new measures to transform the way the criminal justice system approaches child sex abuse, the Direction of Public Prosecutions said:

"Police and prosecutors have significantly improved the way we investigate and prosecute sexual offences in recent years, particularly those involving children.

"The results have been encouraging with more cases being brought to court, higher conviction rates and more defendants pleading guilty.

"Yet, despite all this, events over the last 12 months raise fundamental questions about our approach to these cases.

He added: "We are clear that the yardsticks for testing the credibility and reliability of victims in sexual abuse cases do not serve the police or prosecutors well and risk leaving an identifiable group of vulnerable victims unprotected by the criminal law."