unit to assume@PostOffice private prosecution records and review safety of all convictions Mark Fenhalls KC of
a former @TheCriminalBar chair talks with @bbc5live@TVNaga01 7/1/24@bbc5live
1h15m to 1h22m12s bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0 NM “When someone seeks to overturn a conviction what is the usual process” MFKC “The usual process for overturning a conviction out of a Crown court trial is that somebody has 28 days to lodge an appeal and if that deadline passes they then have to get permission to an appeal out of time. But the initiative lies with the person who has been convicted and their lawyers and that is at the heart of what we are discussing and whether or not that should change.” NM“What are the things that need to be discussed or determined for that to change as it seems like the will is there, the public will at least, and the political will for those who want to on that side of that [public] will?” MFKC “Government must very quickly work out how many cases there are and how they are going to handle it. Numbers range from 300 to 900 across three different legal systems across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Government must work out whether there is a way in which they can take the initiative and handle the questions of whether all the convictions are unsafe. They might for example put together a specialist unit for Crown Prosecution Service and demand all of the records of prosecution from the Post Office are handed over to the CPS hand over all the prosecutions . Allow the CPS to put together a special unit and take over and see whether or not these private prosecutions have resulted in safe convictions. That one potential mechanism is via the courts, NM “So a mass appeal?” MFKC “There was an appeal case in 2021 when there were around 42 linked cases so you can bring these forward but that relied on 42 different people going to lawyers, being joined to the proceedings and taking the initiative. But what we have seen everywhere is an awful lot of people out there who can’t bear talking to lawyers or going back to this awful miserable period of their lives. It seems to be the State ought to be taking the initiative if it possibly can. There is a system of private prosecution – most prosecutions in England and Wales are brought by the Crown Prosecution Service but there is a separate system of private prosecutions where individuals – companies or people – can bring prosecutions and those are overseen by the court. That’s what the Post Office did. The CPS is permitted to take over those prosecutions – there is a power to do it. There is a way in which now you could say to the CPS “we are going to give you the resources to look at these cases and see if they are safe convictions and whether or not they should be brought back to the Court of Appeal”. If you look back at the 2021 Appeal case, there were three of those [42] cases where the Court of Appeal said those convictions were safe. You must be careful. This is not as straightforward as some of the politicians would want you to believe.” NM “As in [don’t assume] a mass miscarriage of justice as the Court of Appeal has found at least three.”
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