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28-day detention is long enough, says senior official
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's anti-terror legislation suffered an early blow yesterday after the head of the prosecution service said there was no case for detaining terrorist suspects without charge for 42 days.
- Evening Standard
- Published: 00:01 April 2, 2008
- Gordon Brown. The head of the prosecution service said there was no case for detaining terrorist suspects without charge for 42 days.
- Image Credit: Reuters
London: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's anti-terror legislation suffered an early blow yesterday after the head of the prosecution service said there was no case for detaining terrorist suspects without charge for 42 days.
Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the Crown Prosecution Service was satisfied with the present 28-day limit and saw no need to extend it.
His intervention will be seized on by opposition MPs and Labour rebels as the Commons holds its first debate this afternoon on the new Counter-Terrorism Bill.
The government is braced for a bruising two-month battle over the legislation with about 40 Labour MPs saying they will vote against any increase in the time terrorist suspects can be held without charge.
"In our experience the 28-day limit works well," Sir Ken told The Times. He pointed out that the CPS counter-terrorism unit enjoyed a 92 per cent success rate for prosecutions compared with a 77 per cent average for other trials.
No difficulties
"We have had major, major cases that have occurred within that time limit and haven't encountered any difficulties in charging those we have wanted to charge and that's why we have not requested any extension," he said.
Sir Ken said the CPS had unrivalled expertise in prosecuting counter-terrorist cases. "In the past 18 months we've been building very strong cases, with very good counter-terrorism prosecutors working very well with the police. In many cases defendants don't have anywhere to hide - the case against them has been so strong and so compelling," he said.
He added: "We prosecute more [terrorist] trials than any other fair-trial jurisdiction in the world - more than America, Australia, Canada or other European countries - and that's why our people have become so expert at it."
But Sir Ken said he was a long-standing supporter of government plans to allow the police to question suspects after they have been charged with an offence.
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