The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is failing to prosecute honour crimes for fear of causing unrest in what has been called ‘the Asian community’, claims a ‘whistleblower’ in Scotland Yard, it was reported in early November.
The detective sergeant, himself Asian, who has worked on numerous honour-based investigations and been commended three times for his work in this area over the past year, pointed out that despite the number of cases being referred by the police to the CPS having doubled in the last five years, there has only been a single conviction.
He spoke out because he believes victims are being denied justice. In one horrific case he was recently working on, where there was very strong evidence, the CPS did not even tell the police they were dropping the case. He said: ‘There appears to be an apathy from the CPS when prosecuting cases where Asian women are victims of honour-based violence. A conviction could lead to unrest in the affected community, but if they discontinue a case they know most victims won’t complain due to their vulnerability.’
