Source: https://jimmeyer.co.uk/legal-expertise/private-prosecutions/
Timestamp: 2020-07-09 18:12:15
Document Index: 734532470

Matched Legal Cases: ['UKHL ', 'EWCA ', 'EWCA ', 'EWCA ', 'EWCA ', 'EWCA ', 'UKPC ']

Mount your own private prosecution and instruct a leading crime lawyer
Home → Legal Expertise → Private Prosecutions
You can instruct a leading criminal lawyer, like Jim Meyer, to mount a private prosecution on your behalf. Follow the example of others, including the HSE and the DVSA, and hire Jim to provide you with top-rated criminal prosecution and enforcement services.
With over 27 years experience as a criminal litigator, including 19 years prosecuting matters on behalf of government regulators and enforcement agencies, Jim offers bespoke prosecution services to companies and individuals alike. He will give you honest, straightforward advice in relation to your prospects of success, the merits of initiating proceedings, and the likely cost.
Criminal prosecutions are not just the work of the Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious Fraud Office or the other statutory prosecuting authorities
Section 6(1) Prosecution Offences Act 1985 provides the right for individuals and companies to bring a private prosecution; the advantage to you in doing so is speed and control.
Private prosecutions are also generally cheaper than civil litigation and the threat of a criminal record, a potential sentence of imprisonment and confiscation proceedings makes the threat of private prosecution a massive deterrent against others who may wish to do you harm.
If you are the victim of crime you can pursue a private prosecution process and hire legal support and services of your choosing – you don’t have to rely on the police or an industry regulator. If you’ve been turned down elsewhere or have waited months (or even years) to achieve justice, you should consider instructing Jim to advise on the merits of initiating your own private prosecution. He will assemble a hand-picked team of experts and investigators to give you the best prospects of success.
Relevant cases related to private criminal prosecutions
[2019] EWHC 9 (Admin)
DC (Hickinbottom LJ, Nicol J)
The DPP's decision to take over and discontinue a private prosecution brought against a speaker who had expressed anti-Zionist views at a public rally was not irrational. The prosecution had been brought on the basis of the Public Order Act 1986 s.5, and the DPP had been entitled to conclude that although the speaker's words might have been intemperate, offensive and distressing to some, they were not abusive within the meaning of s.5 and the prosecution was unlikely to succeed.
[2018] EWHC 3084 (Ch)
Ch D (Judge David Cooke)
Permission was granted for documents disclosed in civil proceedings to be produced as evidence in a private prosecution brought by the claimant against the same defendants, based on materially the same facts as the civil claim but including allegations of fraud. There was a public interest in facilitating the prosecution of crimes and it was the prosecutor's duty to lay before the court all the evidence relevant to the offences charged.
[2018] EWHC 2842 (Admin)
Costs on the indemnity basis were awarded against an individual who had brought a private prosecution in the magistrates' court but failed to comply with the duty of candour and had engaged in unreasonable conduct in prosecuting the litigation.
QBD (Martin Griffiths QC)
The court refused to grant a Norwich Pharmacal order to an investment firm which was contemplating the private prosecution of two individuals it suspected of using insider information to buy shares in a company shortly before a public announcement increased its share value. The matter was already the subject of civil proceedings where disclosure could be sought, and the firm's suspicions had been referred to the CPS which was well placed to decide whether to investigate. A Norwich Pharmacal order was not necessary for the firm to obtain justice.
[2018] EWHC 327 (Admin)
QBD (Admin) (Holroyde LJ, Nicola Davies J)
The Crown Prosecution Service's Victims' Right to Review Guidance, under which the CPS would not consider a victim's request for a review of the decision to offer no evidence against an accused until after the prosecution had concluded, was an inflexible policy but was not unlawful. It struck a necessary and proportionate balance between the rights of the victim, the accused, and the CPS's prosecutorial independence.
QBD (Choudhury J)
An unless order was made against an individual who had not complied with an order to pay costs of £425,000 resulting from his failed claim for tainted gift. He had made no attempt to comply and at the last minute had made an unsubstantiated contention that he lacked funds.
[2017] EWHC 1969 (Admin)
DC (Lord Thomas LCJ, Ouseley J)
Permission to apply for judicial review of a magistrates' court's refusal to issue a summons for the private prosecution of politicians for the crime of aggression through their participation in the 2003 Iraq war was not granted. There was no prospect of the Supreme Court holding that the decision in R. v Jones (Margaret) [2006] UKHL 16, that the crime of aggression had not been incorporated or assimilated into domestic criminal law, was wrong. It was for Parliament, and not the courts, to make such conduct criminal under domestic law and Parliament had deliberately chosen not to do so.
[2017] EWHC 232 (Admin)
QBD (Admin) (Gross LJ, Nicol J)
The court considered the powers of, and duties upon, individuals bringing private prosecutions. It also considered the discretion exercisable by the magistrates' court under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 s.19 to make a costs order against private prosecutors where it found that proceeding in such a way amounted to an "unnecessary or improper act or omission"
CA (Civ Div) (Sir Brian Leveson PQBD, Hallett LJ, Burnett LJ)
The Court of Appeal considered whether the Division Court could and should order the Football Association Premier League to pay the costs of a failed private prosecution of publicans for the offence of fraudulently receiving satellite TV programmes, namely English Premier League football matches which originated from non-UK based broadcasters. Judgment reserved. The transcript is not yet available, it will be published to Lawtel as soon we receive it.
DC (Hamblen LJ, Cranston J)
The power referred to in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 s.44, whereby the court could dismiss the complaint if it found an assault or battery to have been so trifling as not to merit punishment, only applied to private prosecutions and not to prosecutions brought by the CPS or the police.
QBD (Admin) (Simon LJ, Flaux J)
The court gave guidance on the approach to be adopted in cases of judicial review of the Victims' Right to Review Scheme.
[2014] EWCA Crim 1823
CA (Crim Div) (Lord Thomas LCJ, Rafferty LJ, Holroyde J)
The costs an appeal in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division of a private prosecution would be paid from central funds in an application under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 s.17 where it had been proper and reasonable to instruct the solicitors and/or advocates actually instructed, and the relevant costs had been reasonably incurred.
QBD (Admin) (Rafferty LJ, Jay J)
[2014] EWCA Crim 52
CA (Crim Div) (Lord Thomas LCJ, Foskett J, Hickinbottom J)
The court determined important issues concerning private prosecutions, including whether a private prosecutor was entitled to bring confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 even if it had no financial or personal interest in the outcome, and the propriety of a private prosecutor procuring assistance from the police in return for a "donation" to police funds. There was an urgent need for consideration of the circumstances in which the police should assist in confiscation proceedings brought by private prosecutors.
SC (Lord Neuberger (President), Lady Hale JSC, Lord Mance JSC, Lord Kerr JSC, Lord Wilson JSC)
The application of the Director of Public Prosecutions' current policy to take over a private prosecution and discontinue it unless the evidence was such to render a prosecution more likely to result in a conviction than not, did not frustrate the policy and objects underpinning the right to maintain a private prosecution in the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 s.6.
[2012] EWCA Crim 2357
CA (Crim Div) (Rafferty LJ, McCombe J, Thirlwall J)
Although the police should have informed a magistrates' court, when applying for arrest and search warrants, that a private company was likely to prosecute any charges brought, the appellant had not demonstrated that the magistrates would have refused the applications if they had known.
[2012] EWHC 1002 (Admin)
"The prosecutor" in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 s.31 was not limited to prosecutors who prosecuted pursuant to a power conferred by some statutory provision but applied to anyone initiating a prosecution under the Act. The court set out the proper method for bringing a challenge to a certificate issued under s.31(2) of the Act.
[2011] EWHC 472 (Admin)
DC (Richards LJ, Edwards-Stuart J)
The policy of the Crown Prosecution Service to take over the conduct of private prosecutions in order to discontinue them where there was no reasonable prospect of conviction against any of the accused was lawful. The High Court should be slow to conclude that the judgment of an expert prosecutor as to the reliability of evidence or the likelihood of securing a conviction was so far out that it should be struck down as irrational: that was an area where challenges by way of judicial review were to be strongly discouraged.
SC (Lord Saville JSC, Lord Rodger JSC, Lord Brown JSC, Lord Judge JSC, Lord Kerr JSC, Lord Clarke JSC, Sir John Dyson JSC)
The Financial Services Authority's powers to prosecute criminal offences were not limited to the offences referred to in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 s.401 and s.402. Therefore, the FSA had the power to prosecute offences of money laundering contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 s.327 and s.328.
[2009] EWCA Civ 1156
CA (Civ Div) (Ward LJ, Wilson LJ, Leveson LJ)
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 s.22 did not prevent the use by a private prosecutor of material seized pursuant to a warrant, but it did not mandate such use.
[2009] EWCA Crim 1941
CA (Crim Div) (Richards LJ, Irwin J, Judge Baker QC)
The Financial Services Authority had the power to bring private prosecutions for money laundering offences that were contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 s.327 and s.328.
[2009] EWHC 2571 (Admin)
DC (Scott Baker LJ, Cranston J)
There was no requirement for a person seeking to bring a private prosecution to approach the police first.
[2009] EWHC 958 (QB)
QBD (Sharp J)
The police had no power to retain property under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 s.22 against the wishes of the person otherwise entitled to possession of it once a decision not to prosecute had been taken so that a private body could consider whether to bring a prosecution, or whilst that private prosecution was being brought.
[2007] EWHC 1730 (Admin)
A judge had erred in holding that a third party private prosecutor was required to establish that a prosecution of an offence constituted not just an individual grievance but had a public interest and benefit, as there was no authority for such a test and it was for Parliament, not the courts, to limit the right of private prosecution.
[2006] EWHC 2318 (Admin)
The court gave guidance on the approach to be taken by magistrates when considering an application to issue a summons for a private prosecution after the Crown Prosecution Service had discontinued a prosecution in respect of the same conduct.
[2006] UKPC 20
PC (Mau) (Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood)
Decisions of the Director of Public Prosecutions of Mauritius that private prosecution proceedings were nolle prosequi could be challenged by way of judicial review as the DPP was a public officer exercising statutory functions.
[2004] EWHC 2806 (Admin)
DC (Rose LJ, Leveson J)
A public company had the right to lay an information regarding an alleged assault by a shareholder on a director at the company's annual general meeting as it was required by statute to hold annual general meetings, and it was clearly entitled to take proper steps to ensure that such meetings were controlled in an orderly fashion.
[2004] EWHC 1001 (Admin)
DC (Goldring J, Kennedy J)
The justices had not erred in holding that there was a reasonable excuse for the wilful obstruction of a highway by a fast food van on the basis that it was parked in an industrial area where the only traffic was attracted by the van itself.
[2003] EWHC 2865 (Admin)
The first defendant's bicycle rickshaws were not hackney carriages within the meaning in s.4 Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 but stage carriages, as passengers were charged separate and distinct fares for their respective places. The defendant's drivers had not solicited persons to hire the rickshaws as they had made no form of invitation to prospective clients.
[2002] EWHC 2099 (Admin)
QBD (Admin) (Richards J)
Where the district judge had failed to make a finding as to fault, she should have directed herself that a stay was the exception rather than the rule, and also that it would be rarer still for a stay in the absence of such a finding.
[2002] EWHC 224 (Admin)
Where the defendant had considered Home Office guidance in its decision to prosecute a young offender, that decision could not be held irrational or unlawful because the defendant had not invited the Crown Prosecution Service to intervene so that the matter could be dealt with by way of reprimand.
The justices had been entitled to conclude that although the respondent had punched the appellant, the punch had been neither excessive nor reckless, and accordingly the charge of common assault had not been made out.