Committees

Experts give evidence to MPs on fairness of private prosecutions

2 July 2020

The Justice committee is to receive evidence in its inquiry on the fairness of private prosecutions. The Justice Committee inquiry follows a request from the Criminal Cases Review Commission to the Committee.

The Commission asked it to review the circumstances and safeguards of private prosecutions where the prosecuting and investigating organisation is also the alleged victim in the case, as in the example of the recent prosecutions of Post Office workers by the Post Office. Lawyers, accountants and academics will appear before the Committee.

Scope of the session

The Commission has referred for appeal 47 cases of Post Office workers who were convicted of theft and/or false accounting. In a press release on 3 June 2020 the Commission said it had referred the cases for appeal because there was a real possibility that the appeal courts would quash the convictions.

In its request to the Justice Committee to review the legal issues surrounding the matter, the Commission said there were reasons for significant concern as to whether the Post Office had at all times acted as a thorough and objective investigator and prosecutor in the cases.

The Justice Committee will not look into the details of the cases against the Post Office workers but rather whether there is a systematic problem with private prosecutions by organisations that are the investigator and prosecutor as well as the alleged victim of an offence. The Committee will ask the witnesses if there are safeguards that could be introduced in such cases to avoid possible miscarriages of justice.

The Post Office convictions themselves have already been the subject of an inquiry by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee. It received evidence from investigative chartered accountants that Post Office investigators into the alleged crimes by Post Office workers had "appeared to operate on a presumption of guilt rather than a more open-minded approach". The investigative accountants, from the organization Second Sight, told the BEIS Committee; "There was a clear objective of recovering money for [the] Post Office rather than seeking the truth".

Witnesses

Tuesday 7 July 2020 - virtual participation by witnesses and members of the Committee

At 2.30pm:

  • Ron Warmington, Managing Director, Second Sight
  • Ian Henderson, Director, Second Sight

At 3pm:

  • Alison Levitt QC, Barrister, 2 Hare Court, Private Prosecutors' Association, former Principal Legal Advisor to the Director of Public Prosecutions (2009 – 2014)
  • Gareth Minty, Legal Director (Barrister), Mishcon de Reya LLP, Private Prosecutors' Association
  • Sandip Patel QC, Managing Partner, Aliant Law

At 3.45pm:

  • Professor Claire de Than, University of London and Jersey Law Commission
  • Dr Jesse Elvin, Senior Lecturer, City Law School, City University of London 
  • Professor Peter Hungerford-Welch, City Law School, City University of London
  • Dr Jonathan Rogers, University Lecturer in Criminal Justice, Faculty of Law at University of Cambridge, Director, Criminal Law Reform Now Network 

Further information

Image: Press Association