Examination of Witnesses (Questions 156-159)
AIR VICE-MARSHAL
RICK CHARLES,
CAPTAIN BERNARD
DAVIS, MAJOR
GENERAL DAVID
HOWELL, MR
JULIAN MILLER
AND MR
HUMPHREY MORRISON
26 JANUARY 2006
Q156 Chairman: Gentlemen, welcome, and
in two cases welcome again. I do not know whether you want to
effect some introductions before we start?
Major General Howell: I am probably
the new boy on the block. My name is David Howell. I am the Head
of the Army Prosecuting Authority.
Captain Davis: My name is Bernard
Davis. I am the Head of the Naval Prosecuting Authority.
Air Vice-Marshal Charles: My name
is Rick Charles from the Royal Air Force Prosecuting Authority.
Q157 Chairman: Mr Morrison, we have
already met. Unless there are any opening statements which
you wish to make that will be of particular advantage to you in
any way then I would propose that we go straight into the questioning
given the constraints on time. As separate prosecuting authorities
you can reflect the Service context of each case in presenting
the prosecution at Court Martial. How will a single prosecuting
authority work in practice? Will the three Services continue to
prosecute members of their own Service?
Air Vice-Marshal Charles: I do
not think we see much change. A joint Service Prosecuting Authority
will have people transferred from existing prosecuting authorities
and, therefore, certainly for the foreseeable future the vast
majority of cases will be prosecuted by officers from the particular
Service. They may, in due course, depending on the views of whoever
is selected to be the Director of Service Prosecutions, allow
some blurring around the edges.
Q158 Chairman: Is that the general
view?
Major General Howell: Absolutely.
Q159 Chairman: In that case, what
is the advantage of a single prosecuting authority?
Major General Howell: I think
there are going to be advantages of scale. At the moment, as you
probably realise, all of us are incredibly small: the Air Force
and Navy are four or five people and the Army is a bit bigger
but still only about 28. Having a larger pool from which to draw
will probably be beneficial. It will also help in the training
of everybody to have more of a chambers atmosphere that barristers
have to learn from each other rather than being in fairly small
compartments. In addition, there will probably be savings of staff
because you would not have to duplicate all the time and there
may even be advantages in locations and so on.
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