Priti Patel – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Priti Patel on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will discuss with his counterparts in St Lucia the effectiveness of the St Lucian (a) criminal justice system and (b) forensic laboratories in relation to the investigation of the Gloria Greenwood murder and prosecution of suspects.

Mark Simmonds

The FCO is supporting wider HMG efforts to build St Lucia’s judicial capacity to prosecute serious crime, including through forensic analysis training. This targeted support includes the deployment of a Crown Prosecution Service criminal justice advisor to the Eastern Caribbean. Officials will continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our assistance. Last August, I raised the issues with St Lucia’s Prime Minister. More recently, St Lucia’s Foreign Minister attended the 16-17 June UK-Caribbean Forum which included a focussed session on criminal justice reform. Consular officials remain in close contact with the authorities with regard to the investigation into the tragic murder of Gloria Greenwood and continue to provide full consular assistance to her family.