JARBO000107
JARB0000107
12 February 2015
Rt Hon Sir Alan Beith MP
Chairman
Justice Committee
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
We spoke briefly last night on a matter in connection with the Committee’s current inquiry
into the Criminal Cases Review Commission. My interest is with regard to cases connected
with the Post Office where an individual has pleaded guilty to a charge and the case later
turns out to be a miscarriage of justice. I have corresponded with the Chair, Richard Foster,
about this and attach a copy of his response to me.
We discussed whether the CCRC might review such a case. You said that your
understanding was that it was possible but only if the Appeals Court was prepared to accept
the argument that a miscarriage of justice had in fact occurred. My question is: how would
such a case get to the Appeals Court unless it had first been reviewed by the CCRC?
Second, we discussed the lack of clarity surrounding whether or not the CCRC can deal with
private prosecutions. It would be good to see what the Inquiry findings are on this.