The Butterfield Report

Many might say in the light of the disasters of recent years that Customs lost control of prosecutions some time ago following the staggering rise over recent years in the rate of acquittals and the collapsed cases which resulted in judicial enquiries into what went wrong. But the latest enquiry and ultimately the most significant carried about by Sir Neil Butterfield has led to the final disaster — a recommendation that the department be completely stripped of its responsibility for conducting prosecutions. In addition further recommendations are aimed at clipping the wings of the investigation service within Customs by severely...