NEW YEAR HONOURS

New year honours list 2020: Anger over honour for ex-law chief Alison Saunders

Former DPP gets damehood despite sex crime chaos
Alison Saunders quit as director of public prosecutions last year
Alison Saunders quit as director of public prosecutions last year
BEN GURR FOR THE TIMES

The award of a damehood to the director of public prosecutions who oversaw the disclosure scandal in sex-offence cases has been condemned as a “reward for failure”.

Dame Alison Saunders, 58, became the first holder of the post for more than 25 years not to receive the honour immediately when she stood down amid criticism last year.

She was condemned by MPs for failing to get to grips with the omission by police and prosecutors to disclose evidence in rape and sexual offence cases. A review found that 47 such cases had been halted because material had not been shared with defence lawyers.

She quit the post in October last year. It was reported that she had been advised she would be unsuccessful if