I joined the CPS in 1986, the year it was formed. Prior to that, I worked at Lloyds of London following my pupilage in a common law set.
I spent my early CPS career prosecuting in what was known as CPS London South. In 1991 I moved to the CPS Policy Directorate where I developed an expertise in issues involving child victims and witnesses. I rejoined CPS London in 1997 and was promoted to Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutor in 1999.
In 2001 I became Chief Crown Prosecutor Sussex, where I oversaw the successful prosecution of Roy Whiting for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne.
In 2003 I served as Deputy Legal Advisor to the Attorney General before rejoining the CPS two years later as Head of the Organised Crime Division (OCD). I set up and established the OCD, who dealt exclusively with cases from SOCA and CEOP. Most of these cases were proactive operations involving international enquiries. As well as establishing the unit in the UK, OCD had to establish international contacts and managed a network of UK magistrates abroad.
In December 2009, I was appointed the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London. CPS London deals with over 20% of the CPS work. It has over 1,200 staff who deal with over 200,000 cases each year. Since working for CPS London I have been heavily involved in high profile cases such as the retrial in Stephen Lawrence’s murder case and most recently the London disorder cases known as Operation Withern.