CPS gay forum chair arrested

By Marc Shoffman • April 7, 2006 - 0:00

Will Hollins, credited with setting up a gay forum to promote equality and diversity, is charged with sexual assaults on two men and possessing and supplying cocaine and cannabis

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The chairman of the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) network, has been accused of gay sex attacks and drug possession.

Will Hollins, credited with setting up a gay forum to promote equality and diversity, is charged with sexual assaults on two men and possessing and supplying cocaine and cannabis.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Hollins, 41, who has yet to enter a plea, appeared before Birmingham magistrates and is on conditional bail awaiting a committal hearing at the city's Crown Court in May.

He has been suspended on full pay, the CPS confirmed to the Mail on Sunday.

The investigation is being conducted in the neighbouring West Midlands Police as officers from Mr Hollins's force in West Mercia, may have known him in his role as a senior CPS manager, where he earns £50,000 a year.

The charges were confirmed by the CPS last night. He is accused of sex offences between June and October last year with two men in their late teens. They include four alleged attacks on one of them and one on the other. The drugs offences were said to have taken place between October 2004 and October last year.

A CPS spokeswoman told the Mail on Sunday, "We don't comment on ongoing current cases. The case is going through the court system and Mr Hollins has been suspended."

Mr Hollins set up the LGBT Network for CPS staff in 2002 at an event designed to tackle homophobic crime. The role of the department is to 'raise awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and thereby promote equality and diversity' and to provide 'a gateway of support and assistance to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff in the workplace' and 'a forum for discussion'.

The CPS is responsible for advising whether criminal cases should be sent to courts in England and Wales, it is currently under pressure and scrutiny over the amount of public money spent on magistrates' court hearings that go no further.

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