Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) South East

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the main prosecuting authority in England and Wales.

The CPS has 14 Areas across the country, each headed by a Chief Crown Prosecutor. The South East Area is responsible for prosecuting cases in Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

We serve over 4.5 million people and the geographic area we cover is spread over 3,700 square miles, including major entry points to the UK, such as London Gatwick Airport, the Channel Tunnel and the Port of Dover.

CPS South East is headed up by Chief Crown Prosecutor Kate Brown, who is supported by Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutors Sarah Dineley and Judith Reed and Area Business Manager Karen Sawitzki.

We have around 300 members of staff, consisting of lawyers, paralegal officers and Operational Delivery Professionals. Our staff work out of offices in Canterbury, Brighton, Guildford, as well as a small remote team in Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

We also have an Area Business Centre, which includes specialist business support and administrative functions such as human resources, finance, communications and performance, all of which help to support the rest of the business.

CPS South East is committed to providing the best possible service we can to victims and witnesses in our cases, as they are vital in helping us to bring people to justice.

We work with the members of our Local Scrutiny Involvement Panels to improve the prosecution process as a whole. They are made up of community representatives and invited members from other agencies in the criminal justice system, such as the police. One panel looks at hate crime, while the other focuses on violence against women and girls. They both review our performance and randomly selected cases to see where improvements can be made.