Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, what guidance the Crown Prosecution Service issues to prosecutors regarding the joinder of charges on a single indictment involving different complainants.

The Crown Prosecution Service provides prosecutors with published guidance on the drafting of indictments. This explains that charges may be joined on a single indictment where they are founded on the same facts, or form or are part of a series of offences of the same or similar character. Where charges relate to different complainants, prosecutors must consider whether there is sufficient similarity or connection between the offences for them properly to form part of a series.

The full CPS guidance for drafting an indictment can be viewed here.