I am a landlord of a property in Bristol and I would like to draw your attention to an appalling decision by the CPS regarding a decision not to prosecute a roofing contractor who committed criminal damage to one of my rented properties. I have been trying for more than 18 months to get the CPS to prosecute the roofer. They kept refusing, but asked for a judicial review and they finally agreed it was criminal damage. I am deeply worried that the UK judicial system is failing to adequately protect landlords. Hence, I am drawing this to your attention in the hope that you can disseminate this to other UK landlords. I have attached the CPS conclusion.
I have sent the following response to the CPS
"I am shocked at your decision not to prosecute. You state that there is a realistic prospect of a prosecution yet you will not prosecute. The reasons that you cite are illogical. The fact that there was a dispute about payment does not mitigate the fact that there was criminal damage. The significant passage of time was all because the CPS took too long to respond and the CPS appeal process was also too lengthy, this was all to do with the CPS coming to the wrong conclusion. None of this was my fault. You state that there is no evidence of a risk to the public. One of my earlier statements indicated that, some years ago, he did some work on the neighbouring property and even though the work was shoddy , my neighbour paid him because he was frightened of him. A successful prosecution would send a clear message to all contractors that ransacking property will have severe consequences. I should not have to resort to a civil remedy when the matter in question was criminal.
Sadly, this is a terrible indication of the state of the CPS system in this country. I can only conclude that the reason for not prosecuting is a lack of resources and the large backlog of cases to be addressed by the CPS."