Alison Saunders’ departure sparks search for new DPP

Conservative sources suggested a ‘clean break was needed’.The search for a prestigious lawyer to become the next director of public prosecutions has begun after Alison Saunders signalled she would not be extending her five-year term.The recruitment process for a new head of the Crown Prosecution Service may be portrayed as a quest to revitalise a dispirited organisation or as a battle between competing legal personalities, but its problems run far deeper.