Private Prosecutions brought by the Animal Protection Services (APS) and specialist law firm Parry & Welch, have been ruled as an abuse of the court’s process by Manchester Crown Court. Proceedings brought by the animal rights charity and Parry & Welch, against Alex-Kaye Carrigan and Elisha Brown, have been stayed.
The case in point
Ms Carrigan and Ms Brown were charged separately by the APS and Parry & Welch for the alleged unlawful selling of pets. APS brought between 80 and 100 private prosecutions this year, many of which were conducted by Parry & Welch. Other prosecutions alleged similar offences as those against Ms Carrigan and Ms Brown.
In early November 2021, Judge Nicholas Dean QC, ruled the private prosecutions as “systemic fraud” and “perverting the course of justice”. Judge Dean referred to an earlier ruling at Preston Crown Court in which a private prosecution brought by the APS and another law firm was stayed as having been brought with an “improper financial motive”.
In the two cases involving Ms Carrigan and Ms Brown, Parry & Welch claimed costs of £12,769 from central funds. The costs schedules included £502.50 for a review of one case over the period of two-hours and £290 for a one-hour conference between the solicitor and a witness.
The APS and Parry & Welch were found to have brought abusive and unfounded private prosecutions which were pursued “with no evidential basis” and “for wholly improper reasons and purposes”. Judge Dean found the prosecutions had the aim of punishing the defendants “regardless” of whether any offence had been committed.
The evidence shared by the APS and Parry & Welch included two-page witness statements made by an APS employee which the Judge noted were “near identical” and “must have been copied and pasted from other statements.” The enclosed exhibits were also confirmed as having been downloaded from the internet. The costs schedules were branded by Judge Dean as “works of almost pure fiction” and an attempt to recover “grossly exaggerated” fees.
Many of the prosecutions had remained in the Magistrates’ Court. Some of the defendants, without legal representation, are believed have pleaded guilty to offences after being misled by the APS and Parry & Welch. Parry & Welch were instructed to withdraw proceedings where defendants had elected trial in the Crown Court except in Ms Carrigan and Ms Brown’s case. Here, the APS and Parry & Welch sought to withdraw prosecutions to “try and achieve swift recovery of fees” and to “avoid judicial scrutiny of their decisions and actions”. Judge Dean said this provided clear evidence that the proceedings had improper motives.
Judge Dean stated his ruling will be sent to the attorney general, Greater Manchester Police, the Charities Commission and to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for investigation.
We have discussed private prosecutions in an earlier article. The article discusses the private prosecution of Post Office following the failings of their Horizon IT System.
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Should you wish to discuss the services we offer further please contact Frances Murray at frances.murray@rosenblatt-law.co.uk or Anil Rajani at anil.rajani@rosenblatt-law.co.uk.
Authors
Frances Murray, Senior Associate (frances.murray@rosenblatt-law.co.uk)
Emily Russell, Solicitor (emily.russell@rosenblatt-law.co.uk)
Tracy Tsao, Trainee Solicitor (tracy.tsao@rosenblatt-law.co.uk)
Sources
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