The world of private prosecutions has taken a bit of a beating. Once hailed as an effective alternative to state prosecutions, they are now painted by some as a symbol of what happens when a resource-drained state retreats from its responsibility to prosecute crime and protect victims. What is said to be left is a dangerous and irresponsible route, where private prosecutors bludgeon opponents into submission rather than acting as responsible ‘ministers of justice’.
Oliver Mosley, barrister at QEB Hollis Whiteman
The Post Office scandal may well be one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history: hundreds of innocent postmasters (“SPMs”) privately prosecuted by their own employer for fraud and theft over almost a decade, based on the data generated by the flawed IT syste...