Question to the Attorney General:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to investigate the basis on which the Crown Prosecution Service brought charges against Donald Summersgill and joint-masters Rupert Andrews and David Greenwood of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) properly applied the Code for Crown Prosecutors to the available evidence when making a decision to charge the three individuals with offences under the Hunting Act 2004. Having applied the Code for Crown Prosecutors, the decision was that at that time there was sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for the charges laid against all three men.

Prosecutors must take account of any change in circumstances that occurs as a case develops, including what becomes known of the defence case. As a consequence of further information being made available it later became apparent that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction. The case was duly stopped.

There is no reason to believe that the CPS in reaching the decision to charge these three individuals did anything which requires an investigation into its conduct of the case.