Lionel Idan welcomes you to the London South community newsletter

Chief Crown Prosecutor (CCP) Lionel Idan is the Head of CPS London South. He has responsibility for all prosecutions in the Area. Lionel was called to the Bar in 1996 and prosecuted and defended in Crime before joining the CPS in 2005. He became the CCP for London South in 2020. You can read about Lionel’s career and those of his senior team here London South | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)

Lionel is also the CPS’s national lead for hate crime and a key priority in his role as hate crime lead is to ensure the CPS is working in strong partnership with police forces and community groups to improve the criminal justice response to hate crime across all strands, in order to bring more offenders to justice. More information can be found here: The Code for Crown Prosecutors | The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)

The London South area is one of the busiest in the entire country, with more than 32,000 CPS-led prosecutions in the last financial year (2021/22).

You can hear from Lionel by clicking the button below.

Our pledge to drive up the number of rape prosecutions 

We’re steadfast in our dedication to transforming the way rape cases are handled and have refreshed our joint pledge with the National Police Chief’s Council to drive up the number of rape prosecutions.

The Joint National Action Plan (JNAP) refresh was published on 20 October as we doubled down on our commitment for prosecutors and investigators to continue working together earlier to build strong cases which can pass swiftly through the justice system.

The significant piece of work, which began in January 2021, has already had an encouraging impact, with the latest quarterly statistics showing charge rates for rape have increased to 72.8% and rape referrals from police are up by 10%.

16 Days of Action – global campaign to end violence against women and girls

'16 Days of Action' is a worldwide annual campaign that aims to raise awareness of, and prevent, violence against women and girls. The campaign starts on 25 November and the Crown Prosecution Service will be actively contributing.

Football fans risk travel ban blocking them from going to World Cup

Fans are being warned that anyone who commits a football-related offence, in person or online, is at risk of being banned from going to the upcoming World Cup in Qatar, as well as the Women’s World Cup next year and the Euros in 2024.

The CPS and the National Police Chiefs’ Council are working together to help reduce the level of football-related crimes, including violent crime, racist, homophobic and discriminatory chanting and abuse, the use of pyrotechnics and entering the pitch. 

It comes after statistics published last month revealed that 516 new football banning orders were issued during last season after a total of 2,198 arrests.

Profile of Lisa Mayne, Hate Crime Coordinator

Lisa is a District Crown Prosecutor and hate crime coordinator in London South. As a hate crime coordinator Lisa works to support to improve the quality of casework in all hate crime cases. She, along with other coordinators, meet regularly with community groups to explain the role of the CPS in the criminal justice system.

“I first wanted to take on the role as I have an interest in hate crime and feel strongly that these offences must be taken seriously, and I’m always keen to help colleagues so that we present the strongest case.

“It’s important that all communities in London have confidence in the CPS and understand that we will do everything in our power to effectively prosecute hate crimes”, said Lisa. “These types of crimes can have a terrible impact on victims and leads to fear in minority communities. That’s why the CPS takes all necessary steps, with our police colleagues, to tackle these crimes.

Disability hate crime working group

London South CPS is working hard to tackle the significant issue of disability hate crime. Disability hate crime is recognised as being heavily ‘under-reported’ in crime statistics, with disabled people lacking confidence in the criminal justice system to provide justice.

Lisa Mayne, Hate Crime Coordinator, is part of a Met Police working group that meets regularly to identify ways to build confidence amongst the disabled community and to identify ways to encourage disabled victims to report incidents to the police. The group includes members from disability groups Inclusion London, Stay Safe East, Community Connex, a disability hate crime victim, as well as hate crime leads from within the Met Police.

Lionel Idan interview with the Disability News Service

​In an interview with Disability News Service, CCP Lionel Idan, CPS hate crime lead, said the continuing number of disability hate crime cases being passed to the CPS was ‘alarming’.

He said that the CPS, whilst working with the police and other organisation to increase the number of prosecutions, had ‘got to do more’. 

On increasing the number of prosecutions, Lionel said ‘the will is there, and I would like to see a huge increase; that’s always been my priority since I took up my role. I am hopeful, I am going to move every stone I can to make it happen’, adding he encouraged disabled people to continue to report disability hate crime to the police.

You can read Lionel's interview by clicking the button below.

Pan-London Hate Crime Scrutiny and Involvement Panel

The CPS in London has set up two local scrutiny panels, to shine a public spotlight on issues of particular community concern: hate crime, and violence against women and girls.

In October we held our latest scrutiny panel on hate crime. It was an opportunity to analyse and discuss prosecution outcomes with partners and members of the community. From these discussions the aim is to make improvements to the way we work.

The Panel reviewed four recently concluded cases, all focused on transphobic hate crime – with the opportunity to look closely at what worked well and what hadn’t, and to draw out lessons which could be shared within the police and CPS.

The Panel will meet again in January.

Hate crime awareness week 

October marked Hate Crime awareness week. CPS staff up and down the country met with their local communities to raise awareness of what hate crimes are and how we prosecute those who commit these crimes.

During the week, CCP Lionel Idan hosted a meeting of the police's national Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime. You can read about the meeting, which included Neville Lawrence, father of Stephen Lawrence, who was killed in a racist attack in 1993.

Jailed for savage knife attack

This month we focus on one of the most appalling cases of knife / gang violence that London South CPS staff have dealt with during the last year – and the good news that the two perpetrators will now be behind bars for a minimum of 14 and 13 years, respectively.

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