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Terrorism Bill

The defendant, if he is charged and the matter comes before the court, would have to prove his defence on the balance of probabilities, and the Crown would have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the offence was carried out. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, is correct to say that the Director of Public Prosecutions would not deal with each and every case, but the noble and learned Lord knows that due to the special difficulty and nature of certain offences, those matters are dealt with not only by very senior members of the Crown Prosecution Service. Often the director will look at the matter himself when it is delicate and/or specialist. I can hazard a guess—I am sure that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, will agree—that it would be unusual for offences of this nature, which we all recognise will be few and far between, not to receive the attention not only of a very senior CPS lawyer, but of the director himself. These cases are very rare and their importance is never underestimated. I am therefore confident that these sorts of cases will receive the highest quality attention that the CPS and, indeed, the director is likely to have.