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The Prime Minister has promised to "look again" at the procedures of sex crime investigations after two rape trials collapsed in the space of a week.

Theresa May was tackled on the issue after Britain's biggest police force announced every live case will be examined in the wake of the controversy.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mrs May highlighted how the Government's top lawyer, attorney-general Jeremy Wright, had initiated a review into the disclosure of evidence even before the cases arose.

She added: "It is important that we look at this again to make sure we are truly providing justice."

:: Student after rape trial thrown out: "I've spent two years living in fear"

The Prime Minister responded to a question to Tory MP Nigel Evans, who himself was cleared of a rape charge in 2014.

The backbencher spoke at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday after meeting 22-year-old student Liam Allan, whose rape trial was thrown out last week after it emerged a detective had failed to hand over text messages on his accuser's phone.

The messages seriously undermined the accuser's case against Mr Allan.

Mr Evans said Mr Allan's "life was put on hold for two years" and he had had to "endure torture until his case collapsed".

The Conservative politician also raised the case of Isaac Itiary, whose trial collapsed at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday after concerns were raised over a failure to disclose vital evidence to prosecutors and the defence.

Mr Allan told Sky News the process he went through "from start to finish just seemed to have holes in it and gaps".

He revealed he and Mr Evans had discussed anonymity for those accused of sex crimes, adding: "I think it's fair that both parties remain anonymous."

Jerry Hayes, the barrister and former Tory MP who was the prosecutor in Mr Allan's case, said representations had previously been made to ministers.

"The current system has been broken for a long time and we have been making it absolutely clear to Government that there's a systematic cultural problem within the police," he told Sky News.

"They don't seem to understand they are statutorily obliged to look at the whole issue, look at all the evidence."

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He added: "There's not a level playing field at the moment, everything seems to be skewed, the dice are rolled against the accused at the moment and that's not right, it's not British justice."

Mr Hayes welcomed the Met Police's decision to review every live case being handled by its Child Abuse and Sexual Offences command, where it is in discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

But the barrister suggested such a review should "happen in every" police force.

Highlighting how there is the "possibility there could have been some quite serious miscarriages of justice", Mr Hayes asked: "There's the next problem, do you open every single rape case?"

Scotland Yard's review means making sure all digital evidence has been properly examined, documented and shared with the CPS.

The two rape trials collapsed over problems relating to disclosure of evidence, and both of the cases involved the same investigating officer.

The detective concerned remains on full duty in the sexual offences investigation unit, the Met Police said.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: "The MPS will carry out a review of this investigation to ensure that all reasonable lines of inquiry were pursued at the earliest practical opportunity."

Commander Richard Smith, who oversees rape investigations in the Met, added: "I completely understand that this case may raise concerns about our compliance with disclosure legislation given the backdrop of the case of R v Allan last week.

"The Met is completely committed to understanding what went wrong in the case of Mr Allan and is carrying out a joint review with the CPS, the findings of which will be published.

"Rape investigations are by their nature very complex, and often hinge on the contradictory accounts of the alleged suspect and the complainant about what has taken place.

"We are reviewing all our investigations, where we are in discussion with the CPS, to assure ourselves that we are meeting our disclosure obligations in an acceptable timescale based on the volume of data that some cases involve."

Angela Rafferty QC, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association, suggested "unconscious bias" stops the police and the CPS "impartially and thoroughly investigating and scrutinising complaints in sexual offence cases".

"It should be remembered that it is not the job of the police or CPS to judge the truthfulness or otherwise of any allegation made," she said.

The Metropolitan Police said it is unable to confirm at this stage how many cases would be affected by the review.

Attorney General Jeremy Wright called the two cases "appalling failures of the criminal justice system".

He said the disclosure regime was experiencing difficulties across the criminal trial system, including in fraud and terrorism cases.

But he denied the concerns arise from individuals not doing their jobs properly but due to "very large amounts of mostly digital information".

Mr Wright said: "The disclosure regime's been there for 20 years and we need to make sure it's still being used effectively, to make sure that everybody has a fair trial, and if it's not we need to understand what to do differently."

He said he believed most police officers are doing their best to find out what has happened in criminal cases and warned any who are disclosing information could "undermine the case they're seeking to make".

Mr Wright said he wanted the review to be done as quickly as possible but wanted to cover all bases so it may take months.