Plea-bargain plan for fraud cases

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Attorney General Baroness Scotland QC will publish the findings of a group of experts who concluded formal plea bargaining should be introduced for the first time.

The report is expected to set out a mechanism which will allow prosecutors in England and Wales to strike a deal with defendants in return for shorter jail terms or other lesser punishments.

Fraud costs the UK £14 billion a year, and the new proposals follow a major review of the crime published last year.

Previous Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC admitted the way the criminal justice system deals with fraud could be significantly improved.

He said in March last year that plea bargaining had "attracted a good deal of strong support... although also some strong opposition".

He added that prosecutors in England and Wales would not adopt the American system of plea bargaining.

Although the initial plan is limited to fraud cases, last year's document appeared to indicate that the system could at some stage be expanded to other crimes.

Some commentators have called for plea bargaining to be introduced in terrorist cases, for example.