Before the CPS prosecute something it has to pass two tests. The first is whether there is enough evidence that someone has committed a crime. In this case yes, Kate Scottow caused annoyance to someone on the internet, which apparently is illegal, and her tweets provide the evidence.
The second test is whether it's in the public interest to bring a prosecution and I can't work out how prosecuting Kate was in the public interest. This took up two days of court time and the judge went off to deliberate for a whole week - very unusual for magistrates court. The outcome was a small amount of costs, a tiny victim surcharge and a conditional discharge.
And of course Kate's career has been ruined which is not a legitimate sentence, it's simply a horrendous side effect, out of all proportion to her 'crime'.
The other horrendous side effect of this misguided prosecution is of course the chilling effect it has on the human right to freedom of expression for all of us. See the Harry Miller judgment for all you need to know about that.
These horrendous, unjust side effects from the prosecution of someone involved in a twitter spat with a TRA troll could have been foreseen by the CPS. I would like to know how they reached the conclusion that it was in the public interest to bring this prosecution. Is there any way we can get them to show their working?
FOI won't work because it's an individual case. Kate could do a subject access request but probably wouldn't get much because they don't have to release information that relates to the prosecution of offenders.
CPS have a complaints procedure. It's open to anyone who has had direct contact with the CPS with some exceptions, including people convicted of a crime who want to appeal. So that's a non-starter.
They also have a 'feedback procedure' and anyone can provide feedback. It has no teeth of course:
All feedback will be acknowledged, formally recorded and analysed in order to identify improvements to develop our services so that they continue to meet the needs of the public. We are committed to delivering excellent service standards and will use feedback to identify and develop good practice. Where it is possible and appropriate to do so, a response to the feedback will be provided.
www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Feedback-Complaints-Policy-Jan-2019-v2.pdf
Nevertheless if enough of us get our feedback officially recorded they can't pretend they didn't know when the shit hits the fan, and I do believe we are now seeing the first spatterings of shit hitting the fan in all sorts of areas.
If anyone is considering providing feedback to the CPS they might want to remind them of how much egg they had on their faces after their ridiculous attempt to prosecute Miranda Yardley of transphobic hate speech or whatever the bullshit charges were.