1. Dame Alison Margaret Saunders, is a British barrister and a former Director of Public Prosecutions.
24 Facts About Alison Saunders
1. 2.
Alison Saunders was the first lawyer from within the Crown Prosecution Service and the second woman to hold the appointment.
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Alison Saunders was the second holder of this office not to be a Queen's Counsel.
4.
Alison Saunders was previously the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London.
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Alison Saunders is a Partner at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters.
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Alison Saunders attended primary school in Brixton, London, and then St Teilo's Church in Wales High School in Cardiff.
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Alison Saunders read law at the University of Leeds from 1979 to 1982.
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Alison Saunders was appointed Branch Crown Prosecutor for Wood Green in 1997, and Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS London South in 1999.
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Alison Saunders took up the appointment of Chief Crown Prosecutor for Sussex in 2001 overseeing the case made against Roy Whiting, who was convicted of murdering Sarah Payne.
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Alison Saunders then became head of prosecutions for the Organised Crime division of the CPS.
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Alison Saunders was the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London from 2009 until 2013.
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Alison Saunders was the first head of the Crown Prosecution Service to be appointed from within the service and the second woman to hold the appointment.
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In 2014, Alison Saunders announced that the CPS would be seeking to fight against criminals hiding assets abroad and appointed a team of six specialist lawyers to work with legal authorities overseas to recover assets from countries including Spain and the United Arab Emirates.
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Alison Saunders blamed failings within her department and the police for the collapse of three different police inquiries between 1991 and 2007.
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The complainant, Nikki Kenward, argued that Alison Saunders had amended prosecution policy outside of the democratic process.
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Alison Saunders' defence was that she had only clarified the existing guidelines.
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On 2 April 2018, it was announced that Alison Saunders was to stand down at the end of her term as head of the CPS.
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Conversely, on 23 January 2018, Alison Saunders was criticised by victims' and survivors' groups because her words could be taken to mean that silence equates to consent.
19.
In 2015 Alison Saunders decided to prosecute a doctor for female genital mutilation after inserting a suture to prevent bleeding after childbirth.
20.
On 29 December 2018, The Telegraph reported that Alison Saunders would be "the first former head of the Crown Prosecution Service not to receive a senior honour after her tenure was marked by a series of scandals".
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However, Alison Saunders was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2020 New Year Honours, and was later invested.
22.
In 2019, Alison Saunders joined the law firm Linklaters as Dispute Resolution Partner.
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Alison Saunders is married to Neil Alison Saunders, a barrister, and has two sons.
24.
Alison Saunders was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2013 New Year Honours "for services to Law and Order especially after the 2011 London Riots" and Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to criminal justice.