Question Author
The CPS should be doing it BM - with the RSPCA fulfilling the role of investigator only - the absence of the 'chinese wall' was addressed long ago in most other spheres of prosecution - why is this different?
I think (with random figures to avoid breaching any confidence) I can sum up the attitude of the RSPCA in the case I referred to earlier as "Sell the house for £250,000 and give us our £50,000 right now", when the family were (rightly as it turned out) convinced that the house would make well over £350,000 if marketed carefully after some bits of work were done. The delay was about 6 months - probate still granted less than 12 months after death - with the RSPCA hounding the (lay) executors like criminals for most of that time.
For the benefit of others, who seem to be assuming that in wishing to clip the wings of the RSPCA I am in some way complicit in animal maltreatment, I would just say that we do desperately need an effective, honest, caring charity working tirelessly for the good of animals - and perhaps a reformed RSPCA could do that job - but it's been given a lot of chances over the years and seems incapable of changing.