"Parkinson is facing questions over why he felt he could not proceed with the trial of two men accused of spying for China. He said the case was dropped because prosecutors had tried and failed to obtain a witness statement from the government stating that China posed a current threat to the national security of the UK. But that explanation has been called into question by some senior lawyers and, perhaps more ominously for Parkinson's job prospects, by politicians too."
"Parkinson described himself as a late developer at his Wiltshire comprehensive school, who had not applied to university initially because he had poor predicted grades for his A-levels. He took a year out after better than expected results during which he applied to study law at university an idea put in his mind by his younger brother who was planning to do the same and he worked as a dustman, on a kibbutz and as a travelling ballpoint pen salesman in South Africa."
"Already during pupillage, I had decided that I wanted to work for the DPP's office [the forerunner of the CPS], indeed that one day I'd like to be DPP, he told Counsel. In those days, a typical announcement following a serious crime was that the papers have been sent to the DPP'. I thought, I want to be that person'."
Stephen Parkinson serves as director of public prosecutions and dropped charges against two men accused of spying for China after prosecutors failed to obtain a government witness statement declaring China a current threat to UK national security. That rationale has been questioned by senior lawyers and politicians, and a government minister declined to endorse Parkinson's suitability for the DPP role. A former colleague called him independent-minded and principled. Parkinson's personal background includes poor predicted A-levels, a gap year working as a dustman, on a kibbutz, and as a pen salesman in South Africa, study of law at UCL, and early ambition to work for the DPP's office.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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