The Post Office Horizon scandal has led to calls for reform of the private prosecution system, but this would be a ‘tragic irony’, Kate McMahon, partner at Edmonds Marshall McMahon, writes in this week’s NLJ
The right of an individual to bring a private prosecution is a historical right. Any curtailment of, or restrictions placed upon, this right would be a ‘pitchfork’ response, with detrimental effects for justice.
‘Indeed, such an act would require lawyers and the public to put unrestrained faith in the exact same government that has failed to adequately supervise its own Post Office,’ McMahon writes. She mounts a robust case for keeping private prosecutions, which provide a safeguard when the state gets it wrong.
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