DPP Alison Saunders says: 'I’m still the right person for the job'

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/06/dpp-alison-saunders-says-im-still-the-right-person-for-the-job

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The country’s most senior prosecutor said it was “difficult” hearing calls for her to quit over her handling of the Lord Janner case, but insisted: “I’m still the right person for the job.”

Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions for nearly two years, faced a backlash when her initial decision not to charge the former Labour peer with alleged child sex crimes was overturned.

Related: Lord Janner: hearing into child sex abuse claims set for February

Her decision was only reviewed after six of the complainants made a request under a scheme introduced two years ago giving victims the right to challenge CPS decisions.

She became the first DPP to have a major prosecuting decision reviewed and overturned through the new policy, prompting calls for her to resign, although she later received the backing of the attorney general, Jeremy Wright QC.

Saunders said: “It’s always difficult if people say that [to resign]. Personally, you don’t like to hear that.”

In addition to her decision on Janner, who has Alzheimer’s, Saunders has faced criticisms over other high-profile cases since becoming the most senior public prosecutor in England and Wales in November 2013.

The failure of a number of prosecutions against members of the media accused of paying public officials for information led to claims that the CPS was wasting money “persecuting innocent journalists”.

Saunders was also blasted for deciding to bring Britain’s first female genital mutilation case against a doctor who was cleared in less than 30 minutes by a jury.

But she also earned plaudits earlier in her career for overseeing high-profile cases such as the prosecution of paedophile Roy Whiting in Sussex in 2001 for the murder of schoolgirl Sarah Payne.

In 2009 she was put in charge of prosecutions in the capital, supervising the conviction of two men for murdering black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Her work on the prosecution of thousands of people involved in the August 2011 London riots led to an appointment as Companion of the Order of the Bath.

Saunders said she was focused on her role as the country’s top prosecutor, despite the calls for her to resign.

She said: “I’m satisfied I’m the right person to be here and I’ve got a track record which proves that.

“I’m still in the post which I’m very pleased about.”

Janner, of north London, who is accused of 22 sex abuse charges, will have his trial of the facts heard in the new year.

The 87-year-old is accused of 15 counts of indecent assault and seven counts of a separate sexual offence against a total of nine alleged victims in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.