Government targets reform of private prosecutions after Post Office and Single Justice Procedure scandals

Courts Minister Heidi Alexander has vowed that “justice should ne'er travel astatine the outgo of fairness” arsenic she pushes guardant an upgrade to the mode tens of thousands of radical are taken to tribunal each year.

In the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, sub-postmasters were wrongly accused, dragged done the courts, and successful immoderate cases jailed connected the ground of faulty evidence.

The assemblage was simultaneously the alleged unfortunate - complaining it had mislaid wealth - and the prosecuting assemblage successful complaint of deciding whether to prosecute transgression cases.

The Standard’s award-winning probe into the Single Justice Procedure has exposed heavy flaws successful that fast-track tribunal process. Train companies person been recovered bringing transgression cases without providing immoderate evidence, parents person ended up with unlawful convictions for superior truancy charges, and a swathe of TV Licensing and DVLA prosecutions person been brought against sick, susceptible and aged people.

The authorities is present readying a consultation implicit improved standards for non-police and backstage prosecutors who usage the justness system, which could spot the instauration of a caller watchdog akin to the assemblage which monitors the enactment of the Crown Prosecution Service. Prosecutors whitethorn besides request to question accreditation oregon motion up to a statutory codification of standards.

Ministers are considering caller safeguards built into the Single Justice Procedure to assistance susceptible defendants, arsenic good arsenic powers of inspection implicit prosecuting bodies and greater transparency.

An enactment to abstracted investigatory and prosecutorial functions is besides being considered, to debar a repetition of the Post Office fiasco.

“For excessively long, excessively galore mean radical person been connected the receiving extremity of a justness strategy that allows organisations, whether publically owned oregon private, to bring lifechanging prosecutions without the aforesaid checks and balances required of the constabulary oregon the Crown Prosecution Service”, said Ms Alexander.

“In the astir superior of cases similar the Horizon scandal, wherever the Post Office was capable to prosecute hundreds of guiltless sub-postmasters connected the ground of faulty evidence, it has ruined lives.

“Miscarriage of justness of that standard are thankfully rare, but acold much often we spot susceptible radical handed transgression convictions done the Single Justice Procedure successful prosecutions that are arguably not successful the nationalist interest.

“Justice should ne'er travel astatine the outgo of fairness and the powerfulness to bring a prosecution should beryllium exercised responsibly, with due safeguards successful place.

“This upcoming consultation volition beryllium the archetypal measurement connected a travel to amended support the nationalist and amended the medication of justness for all.”

A nationalist enquiry is investigating the Post Office scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted implicit allegations of fraud and stolen money.

The cases were built connected a cornerstone that the Horizon accounting strategy could beryllium trusted, erstwhile successful information it was riddled with bugs and defects and the Post Office hid for years its cognition of the problems.

Criminal prosecutions continued to beryllium brought contempt interior consciousness of the issues with Horizon, and juries were wrongly told the IT strategy was unimpeachable.

The process allows magistrates to beryllium behind-closed-doors to determine connected cases based connected written grounds alone, with nary 1 from the prosecution unit present.

Both the DVLA and TV Licensing person resisted calls implicit the past twelvemonth to beryllium much progressive successful the cases they are prosecuting, waiting alternatively to spot if authorities betterment of the strategy is forthcoming.

Last month, Ms Alexander vowed to haul successful prosecuting bodies who usage the strategy for talks connected however it tin beryllium improved, arsenic she expressed a determination to stamp retired “bad practice”.

It came aft the quality that astir 75,000 convictions for bid fare evasion are acceptable to beryllium overturned aft The Standard exposed wide misuse of the fast-track courts.

The government’s consultation is expected to beryllium launched aboriginal adjacent year.

The Single Justice Procedure deals with an estimated 40,000 low-level transgression cases each month. No plans person been announced to halt prosecutions portion betterment plans are considered.