PROSECUTION solicitors will spend less time in Oxfordshire's police cells as sergeants become responsible for charging offenders.

The number of days Crown Prosecution Service lawyers spend in police stations will be cut from a net 12 to eight a week, from the end of this month.

Sergeants trained as case directors will replace them using a "criminal justice model" to decide how to charge alleged offenders and collate prosecution evidence - a partial return to the previous system where police officers did the bulk of charging.

A similar system tested in Berkshire East still has teething troubles, according to a Thames Valley Police report.

Oxfordshire Basic Command Unit committee member Dr Peter Rickaby pointed out CPS lawyers had previously been brought into custody suites to help put cases together properly. He said: "If we are now saying it is not necessary, are we saying the level of skill in the force is sufficient without the need for CPS lawyers' advice?"

Oxfordshire police commander Chief Supt Shaun Morley said that from 8am to 11pm every day a sergeant would be on duty as a case director.

Mr Morley said: "It is a new way of dealing with the preparation of a prosecution case from the moment of arrest to the presentation of a file to the CPS.

"It is a much more integrated way of dealing with a case, from the beginning to the end."

He said a key element was using computerised files instead of the current paper ones.

He said a shortage of sergeants would not affect the scheme.

He said: "We are nine sergeants short but we have got nine constables acting as sergeants."

Thames Valley CPS spokesman Lucy Littlewood said: "The CPS and police work very closely together to deliver an effective and efficient charging system.

"Both agencies are committed to the efficient deployment of resources and a recent joint survey revealed that prosecutor time could be used more effectively."