The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has appointed Rebecca Lawrence as its next chief executive, taking over from interim chief executive Paul Staff, who is retiring. Lawrence is currently chief executive of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime in London. She has worked in banking, at the Treasury, as director of the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism at the Home Office, and as director, terrorism and allied matters, for the Association of Chief Police Officers. Lawrence said: ‘I have seen first-hand the impact of the changing nature of crime on London’s communities.’