[orcs]

There's no accused person.

If it were illegal it wouldn't be in place, full stop. This is the crown prosecution service, what ever you may or may not think of them, their procedures have to be legal. If a procedure that is in place is challenged in a court and found by the court to be illegal then fine, it gets changed. But those following said procedure beforehand are not breaking the law and are acting in good faith.

But data retention isset in law (at the time under the 1998 act, and now the gdpr and 2018 act) and the cps follows those laws like everyone else must. Their procedures follow these laws.