THE CROWN Prosecution Service has moved out of North Yorkshire, saying it faced “considerable resource constraints” as a result of Government cutbacks.

The department, responsible for carrying out public prosecutions, has closed its York office and moved its staff to Leeds.

Barbara Petchey, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS North and West Yorkshire, said the department was squeezed with many staff having left and not being replaced and had centralised its staff to save money.

The department has also denied rumours that confidential legal files were misplaced during the move, causing adjournments and delays in cases being heard at courts around the county.

The CPS say a number of files in sealed containers remained in a locked room at the York office over one weekend and had to be delivered to the new Leeds office on Tuesday, March 12.

A spokeswoman for the organisation said: “A number of files in sealed containers remained in a locked room at our York office over the weekend and were delivered to our Leeds office on 12 March. No information was lost or compromised and no files remain outstanding.”

It is estimated that moving CPS Yorkshire and Humberside to Leeds will save the public organisation £250,000 per year in rent and running costs from 2014.

Mrs Petchey said: “The decision to close our York office was not taken lightly.

“However, our core purpose is to continue to deliver justice for the people of Yorkshire and Humberside, and to do that as efficiently and effectively as possible.

“In common with all other government departments, we are operating under considerable resource constraints."