60
By that evening, the investigation had gathered enough evidence to feel reasonably confident that the CPS would support a charge.
Following the arrest and interview of a suspect, the police had twenty-four hours in which to either charge or release them. Once a charging decision was made, it would be up to the Crown Prosecution Service to take the case to court, so it was the CPS who needed to give clearance for a charge. With criminal court cases being extremely expensive — and the courts being underfunded and overpopulated with cases — the CPS needed to be sure the case was airtight. Taking a case to court and subsequently losing would be a huge waste of everyone’s time and money.
Culverhouse had been on hold for over twenty-five minutes, sitting in a queue, waiting to get through
