Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions

Britain's top prosecutor has been blasted by a watchdog for claiming the number of rape convictions is more than double the real figure.

Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, was warned that the hugely inflated figures in a report on violence against women were 'misleading'.

She was told in a letter from the UK Statistics Authority that the true number of people convicted of rape last year was under 1,400. This is less than half the 3,000 she alleged in the report by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) earlier this month.

The huge gap is because the CPS includes crimes that were originally investigated as rapes but later downgraded to less serious offences.

Last night, TV company executive Leon Hawthorne, who complained about the statistics discrepancy, said: 'Alison Saunders went on the media to boast about how more and more rapists are being found guilty. The problem is her figures are a calculated deception.'

It is another blow to Ms Saunders, who has repeatedly come under fire over the CPS handling of sex allegations.

Innocent men have had their lives destroyed on the basis of spurious claims later rejected in court.

A serving judge even accused Ms Saunders of having little idea of how rape trials work.

The CPS said: 'We have been consistent… in the way information on rape has been compiled, and are open, honest and transparent in our presentation of data. There are full explanations about our statistics within the report.'