There really should be a government department for Fixing the Barn Door After the Horse Has Bolted but will this review of private prosecutions downplay the Horizon disaster?
This has been a long time coming; the former Tory government was urged to strengthen safeguards around private prosecutions back in 2020.
The Horizon scandal revealed that Post Office Limited had failed to ensure that its private prosecutions of sub-postmasters were appropriate, and these led to wrongful convictions.
But apparently the principal offender in the private prosecution system is something called the single justice procedure, by which minor court proceedings are fast-tracked into a letter, rather than a court hearing.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
If a person is accused of minor offences that cannot result in a prison sentence – the examples given are driving offences like speeding, driving without insurance or using a mobile phone while driving – and if the defendant does not respond to a letter after 21 days, a magistrate will make a decision without the defendant being involved.
And now I am confused, because the Horizon scandal was about people being accused of very serious offences, being dragged to court and, in some instances, jailed.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander has said private prosecutions have resulted in wrongful convictions, and the single justice procedure is “not quite as extreme” – but both suggest that organisations are prosecuting people, although the public interest in those prosecutions has not been proved.
Do you think these diverse types of offences should be tackled together? I don’t.
It seems to me that lumping letter-based, non-custodial prosecutions together with those that triggered the Horizon scandal hugely diminishes the seriousness of the latter.
They might both be private prosecutions but they are not the same and should not be treated as such.
But then, isn’t that what happens when you fix a barn door that has been damaged due to the passage of a large farm animal…
Even if it goes back up, it is weakened – making it easier for the horse to break it down again.
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Will this review of private prosecutions downplay the Horizon disaster?
There really should be a government department for Fixing the Barn Door After the Horse Has Bolted but will this review of private prosecutions downplay the Horizon disaster?
This has been a long time coming; the former Tory government was urged to strengthen safeguards around private prosecutions back in 2020.
The Horizon scandal revealed that Post Office Limited had failed to ensure that its private prosecutions of sub-postmasters were appropriate, and these led to wrongful convictions.
But apparently the principal offender in the private prosecution system is something called the single justice procedure, by which minor court proceedings are fast-tracked into a letter, rather than a court hearing.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
If a person is accused of minor offences that cannot result in a prison sentence – the examples given are driving offences like speeding, driving without insurance or using a mobile phone while driving – and if the defendant does not respond to a letter after 21 days, a magistrate will make a decision without the defendant being involved.
And now I am confused, because the Horizon scandal was about people being accused of very serious offences, being dragged to court and, in some instances, jailed.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander has said private prosecutions have resulted in wrongful convictions, and the single justice procedure is “not quite as extreme” – but both suggest that organisations are prosecuting people, although the public interest in those prosecutions has not been proved.
Do you think these diverse types of offences should be tackled together? I don’t.
It seems to me that lumping letter-based, non-custodial prosecutions together with those that triggered the Horizon scandal hugely diminishes the seriousness of the latter.
They might both be private prosecutions but they are not the same and should not be treated as such.
But then, isn’t that what happens when you fix a barn door that has been damaged due to the passage of a large farm animal…
Even if it goes back up, it is weakened – making it easier for the horse to break it down again.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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