Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates says he will consider raising funds for private prosecutions of Post Office bosses over the Horizon IT scandal.
He told the BBC he would act if the authorities did not take cases forward.
“It was fine when the Post Office brought private prosecutions, so if we’ve got to do it in return so be it”, he said.
Because you probably don’t want the state to have monopoly on prosecutions
Yes I do. Of all the options available, this is the best one. Any other option is worse by comparison.
Interesting, so why would you prefer to live in a world where the Crown decided not to prosecute and Alan Bates was prevented from doing so?
Yes, because for every one Alan Bates case, there are ten cases of billion-pound companies abusing this right, such as… oh, I don’t know, perhaps a few involving the Post Office?
The ones bought by the post office weren’t typical private prosecutions - the Post Office is one of a handful of bodies allowed to directly bring prosecutions alongside the CPS. Yes, very happy to have those organisations lose they right.