London: Private prosecutions should be subject to more effective safeguards so that defendants receive a fair trial and do not pay excessive costs, MPs have recommended. Following the scandal over the Post Office’s misguided criminalisation of scores of its sub-postmasters, the justice select committee has warned of the danger where an “alleged victim in a case is also the investigator and the prosecutor”. Without central records, the report cautions, there is no way of confirming what it suspects is a sharp rise in prosecutions launched by individuals, companies and organisations such as the RSPCA. Legal aid costs, however, show that in 2014-15 a total of £360,000 was paid out of central funds for private prosecutions in 32 cases. By 2019-20 the costs had risen to nearly £12.3m in 276 cases.
There are other financial temptations. Firms can pay less in court fees for private prosecutions than if they pursue civil claims, the committee heard. MPs say the increase of private prosecutions in England and Wales may well be a consequence of the “limited resources of both the Crown Prosecution Service and police”. The CPS was subject to swingeing cuts under austerity policies from 2010, although its resources have increased more recently. Although the CPS plays a key role in overseeing the right to bring private prosecutions, the report notes, “in practice it cannot be expected to be a regulator as well as a private prosecutor”.
Read more: Owen Bowcott, Guardain, https://is.gd/FhMSt1
