Writing in the Guardian on Monday, Keir Starmer QC calls for a "radical review" because most victims of sexual violence or assaults do not have sufficient confidence in the police and courts to report what happened. From a victim's point of view the system "is hardly fit for purpose", he writes.
In some of his most critical comments to date, he says: "Many, if not most, still do not have sufficient confidence in our criminal justice system to come forward in the first place and report what has happened to them … The prevalence figures for domestic violence and abuse set out in a report by the Early Intervention Foundation last week remind us that this is far from a historical matter."