A House of Commons
scrutiny committee is to ask whether there are enough safeguards
in place to prevent miscarriages of justice in private
prosecutions. It will focus on cases brought by large
organisations against individuals when the organisation is also
the alleged victims of the offence. The inquiry is being launched
today and has appealed for written evidence.
The Justice Committee
has set up the inquiry following a request from the Criminal
Cases Review Commission. The Commission has recently referred 47
convictions of employees of the Post Office for appeal to the
courts.
The Commission’s
referrals are being made on the basis of an abuse of process
argument concerning issues with the Post
Office’s Horizon computer system which may
have had an impact on the safety of the convictions.
The Committee will not
look into the individual cases. It will, rather, look at the
potential consequences of an organisation investigating a case,
and prosecuting it, while that organisation is also the alleged
victim of the offence. The Committee will focus on
the effectiveness of existing safeguards and the merits of
additional safeguards that could be used to limit the potential
for the right to bring private prosecutions by large organisation
to cause miscarriages of justice.
Some such safeguards
already exist. For example, in some cases, the Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS) can take over a private prosecution.
The Chair of the
Justice Committee, Sir , said:
“The Post
Office Horizon cases are a clear example of a
large organisation acting as investigator and prosecutor of
alleged crimes in which they were also the victim. There is a
real risk that organisations in such circumstances will be faced
with a conflict of interest that could call into question their
ability to conduct an objective investigation and prosecution.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission’s referral of
47 Horizon cases for appeal demonstrates a
real need to re-examine the question of safeguards in this area
of criminal justice.
The Justice Committee are undertaking a short inquiry and would
like to hear from individuals and organisations that can provide
evidence on private prosecutions and whether existing safeguards
provide adequate protection against injustice.”
The inquiry is to be called ‘Private prosecutions: safeguards’.
The deadline for written evidence is 1 July, ahead of an oral
evidence session which will take place 7 July. Evidence
should be submitted, please, here.
