ABSTRACT
Decisions to prosecute made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) will be challenged because they fail to accord with prosecution guidelines, especially those pertaining to consideration of the credibility of complainant evidence. According to the Code for Prosecutors, the CPS are only supposed to initiate prosecution in circumstances where they are 'satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction'. In challenging the credibility of complainant evidence, the focus so far has been to problematise CPS decision making under prosecutorial guidelines. The Court of Appeal referred to various facts which appear, individually or collectively, to have been interpreted as constituting active deception. Before considering them however, it is necessary to deal with an important matter that the reader has perhaps anticipated. The court also attached significance to the fact that the complainant had purchased condoms 'intending that the couple have intercourse'.
