cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42709668
4 February 2026 12:40 GMT
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that the six defendants entered the factory with sledgehammers, intending, if needed, to injure and incapacitate security guards.
But the defendants disputed that the sledgehammers were “weapons of offence”, and insisted they were intended only to damage property.
As the verdicts were being read, the defendants held hands and embraced in the dock, as families and supporters cheered and wept.
The six defendants have been held for around 18 months on remand- exceeding standard UK custodial time limits.
Its a bit like a burglar suing a homeowner over injury though.
In any case there have been calls to further restrict private prosecutions, as most of them are train fare dodgers and TV licence non-payments (TVL cases making up 1% of all cases in British courts), and the biggest legal scandal of the century so far has been the Post Office’s wrongful private prosecutions of postmasters, where it is theorised that most cases wouldn’t have gone to court if the CPS had had proper oversight.
Yep in those cases it seems right, but as a blanket I’m not so sure. There’s a grey area at the fringes of which a thief steals a Lucozade from a shop and can’t prosecute the shopkeeper for breaking his legs so he can’t escape before the police arrive.