The Director of Public Prosecutions should “move on” after her decision not to prosecute Lord Janner for sexual abuse allegations was reversed, Labour’s Simon Danczuk has said.
Alison Saunders announced in April that the Labour peer would not face trial for numerous child sexual abuse allegations due to the severity of his dementia.
Now an independent review has overturned her decision through a CPS Victims' Right to Review scheme, meaning Lord Janner will face a “trial of the facts” in his absence from court.
MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk said Saunders had made a “catalogue of errors” and renewed his call for her to resign.
“I think Alison Saunders has brought the criminal justice system into disrepute, and I don’t say that lightly,” he told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. “It appears she had ignored a lot of the advice that she was given, and this decision today actually shows that she got it wrong.”
Danczuk said Saunders had slipped up on the timing of her original decision while parliament was not sitting; faced conflict of interest accusations over the case; and had made a “cold decision”.
”It didn’t take into account the alleged victims in this case, there was a lot of public interest in it and she failed to accept that,” he said.
He argued Saunders had made mistakes in previous cases too, regarding female genital mutilation (FGM) and the prosecution of journalists for ‘misconduct in public office’.
“As I have just shown, she is continually reaching the wrong decisions and for those reasons she needs to move on,” he said.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions this morning told the BBC the Janner decisions was not one she should resign over.
“I have always said that in my view this was an extremely difficult and borderline case because of the strong arguments on both sides," she said.
"I have also always emphasised my concern for the complainants in this case...
“I accept the outcome of the review and will now be bringing this prosecution to allow for that adjudication to happen.”
A separate review, led by Sir Richard Henriques, has been looking into the CPS’ handling of allegations made against Lord Janner in the past.
Saunders confirmed she had received a draft copy of that report and that it was “clear” it would find the CPS’ decisions had been wrong.
“It is a matter of real regret that prosecutions weren’t brought by the police and CPS in the past,” she said.
“We have brought forward this decision as public speculation on this review has brought damaging and unacceptable uncertainty for the complainants in this case. We have now done what we can to inform the complainants of the outcome of the review and I have offered to meet each of them should they wish.”