The Crown Prosecution Service has announced that the new Director of Public Prosecutions will be Alison Saunders CB. The announcement was made on 23 July by the Attorney General, Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP.

Ms Saunders is currently the Chief Crown Prosecutor for London and will take up her position on 1 November, following the departure of Keir Starmer. She joined the CPS when it was formed in 1986.

The Attorney General said: “Alison will make an excellent Director of Public Prosecutions and is the right person to help the Crown Prosecution Service meet the challenges it will face in the coming years. I am particularly pleased that Alison is the first Head of the CPS to be appointed from within its ranks as proof of the high quality of the professionals that work within the service.”

Dominic Grieve continued: “I'd also like to thank Keir Starmer for the great contribution he has made not only to the CPS but more generally to the criminal justice system.  He can be proud of the reforms that he and his staff have led to keep our criminal justice system one of the best in the world.”

Commenting on her new role, Alison Saunders said: “I am delighted and privileged to be appointed as the next Director of Public Prosecutions. To lead an organisation of committed and professional staff is an honour especially having worked for the CPS since its inception.

“I look forward to carrying on with the fantastic work that Keir Starmer QC has undertaken, ensuring the CPS further improves and continuing with reforms, both within the CPS and more widely in the criminal justice system.”

Keir Starmer added: “I have had the privilege of working with Alison Saunders for five years. She has been an outstanding leader within the CPS and she will make a first-rate DPP.”

Alison Saunders is recognised as an expert in the prosecution of sensitive and complex cases. She came to public notice when her role in the prosecution of ‘Railway Rapist’ David Mulcahy – convicted of a spate of sex attacks and murders during the 1980s – was highlighted in a TV documentary broadcast in 2001.

Recently she has appeared in prosecutions stemming from the London riots and in the Stephen Lawrence murder retrial.

Prior to her appointment as London’s Chief Crown Prosecutor in December 2009 she was head of the CPS Organised Crime Division. The unit deals with the most serious offences, including human trafficking, immigration, drugs-running, counterfeiting and money laundering, and confiscation of criminals’ assets.