Our country has been infected with unregulated private prosecutions wrongfully mounted for profit, not justice. The BBC alone mounted 47,622 private prosecutions over petty license fees and successfully convicted 44,106 citizens, many of whom were without means. The Post Office Horizon scandal wrongfully convicted thousands more, and has been called the 'worst abuse of justice in British history.'

This deeply personal issue -- affecting everyone in the UK who are at immediate risk of these malicious prosecutions -- calls for an immediate overhaul of private prosecutions in the UK. We must establish a Central Registry to enhance transparency, allowing better monitoring and regulation of these cases. A comprehensive database would ensure that every private prosecution is accounted for and scrutinised properly.

Furthermore, we need to reassess how private prosecutions are funded. The current system often creates an uneven playing field between the prosecutor and the defendant, which undermines our principles of fairness and justice. The private prosecutors are drawing millions from the tax-payer funded public purse, whereas defendants and victims of unfair private prosecutions are simultaneously being bankrupted. 

Lastly but importantly, we must strengthen oversight by implementing stricter guidelines on how these cases are handled. This will prevent misuse of power or manipulation within our legal system.

These reforms are not just necessary; they're vital to maintaining trust in our legal system. Let's take a stand against unregulated private prosecutions today! Sign this petition to call on lawmakers to reform private prosecutions in the UK now!

Learn more, tell your story, and get involved at the Justice Reform Network.

If you or a family member has been subject to an an abusive private prosecution, or are a whistleblower, please contact us to share your story and join our coalition here. 

Note: On 16 February, 2021, in response to the recommendations of the Justice Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2019–21, Private prosecutions: safeguards (HC 497), the Government provided a variety of responses to concerns put forward by that Committee that the concerning rise in the number of private prosecutions exhausting the public purse lacked proper safeguards against being abused, evidence of which has been brought to the public's attention through the recent ITV series Mr. Bates vs. Post Office. 

The government agreed that a central registry should be created to monitor the number of private prosecutions being brought, and who is bringing them (individuals and corporations including), and responded to the Committee's recommendation in section 5 as follows: "...The establishment of such a register is in hand and will be completed by the end of this year." 

Has this been implemented as promised? If not, why? And if not, when will it be implemented?

The public deserves to know, considering thousands of such private prosecutions have been initiated without anyone knowing who is behind them, who has fallen victim to wrongfully initiated ones, and what cost the tax-payers have had to incur for these to be conducted under the cover of night.