Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Private prosecutions after the Post Office scandal: proposed cost-recovery caps, potential regulation and CPS oversight in England and Wales

Published on: 18 January 2024

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

Ministers are reviewing the framework of rules for bringing private prosecutions as anger mounts over the Post Office’s pursuit of blameless sub‑postmasters for theft and false accounting, an episode widely seen as among the gravest miscarriages of justice in UK legal history. Although no proposals have yet been set out, boutique practices and City lawyers who specialise in private prosecutions are uneasy, monitoring events closely, amid concerns that the backlash could inflict unintended harm. Polly Sprenger, a former Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigator and now a partner at Addleshaw Goddard LLP, warned that a sweeping reaction against private prosecutions risks throwing the baby out with the bathwater if change is rushed. Jonathan Rogers, a University of Cambridge professor and co‑deputy director of the Cambridge Centre for Criminal Justice, suggested ministers will still wait to consider the ongoing public inquiry’s recommendations. He added that a straightforward step for MPs would be to accelerate a prior government commitment to amend the rules, including the mechanism for recovering costs from HM Treasury, by bringing that pledge forward sooner. For now, practitioners and academics alike remain watchful, wary of collateral damage while MPs weigh their next moves...

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