There are far too many people trying to simplify a complicated situation.
It is very frustrating as a criminal solicitor to read some of the misinformation on the internet generally.
Lewis Burton did not support the prosecution but cases are evidence led. The CPS lawyer reviewing the case thought there was a realistic prospect of conviction on the evidence they had
Res Gestae evidence of the phone call, injuries etc. That does not mean she was guilty. It means there was a real prospect that a court hearing all the evidence could find her guilty to the criminal standard.
I think every criminal solicitor will have tales of conducting a trial where on paper it looked open and shut but when witnesses give their evidence in court it sounds different, it unfolds differently. They add a bit in which is wildly inconsistent or change their story.
Regardless of whether she was guilty or not her loss of life is tragic. It looks like she was charged with s39 battery (though some reporting suggests s47 ABH). The sentence for that is 6 months custody maximum. She was unlikely to go to immediate custody even if convicted and sentenced. That was the most serious penalty facing her in law. Not death.
From what I have read (and only in newspapers where journalists, not lawyers, give an account of what has happened and what was said in court) the CPS decision seems a reasonable one and it will not have been taken lightly. There is a lot of vitriol for the Crown and I feel for the lawyer who - doing their job - is now being blamed for a death, by some.
I have seen that Lewis Burton is being told via Instagram that this is his fault and she would be here if he hadn't rang the police. That is appalling.
Victimless prosecutions are very much the norm nowadays when there is the evidence aside from the account of the victim - who may have retracted their statement or support for a variety of reasons. It is just wrong for Caroline's management company to say it was a show trial. In my experience with the Criminal Justice System to not prosecute would have been to treat her differently for her celebrity status or her sex.
That isn't to say there isn't a conversation to be had around the support for defendants in the justice system. All people, even the very guilty, need to be supported, in my view. People make mistakes. People also purposefully set out to hurt people in horrific ways. People are accused maliciously of crimes they didn't commit. As a society we need to be better than the individual. The Criminal Justice System is failing currently. It is failing victims, it is failing defendants and it is failing the public. There isn't the money to do things properly every time. A lot of people baulk at the idea for extra money "for criminals" but an effective justice system benefits us all. Especially when we more and more people with mental health difficulties find themselves within the system as services are cut to the bone and cannot support them.