Private Prosecutions

Initial Advice £900 Fixed Fee

JMW offers a fixed fee service for £900 (inclusive of VAT), which includes up to two-hours of preparatory work and consultations, where we will discuss the merits of your case with you and look through any available evidence. We may also need to make background enquiries. Following the consultation, we will send you a letter confirming our advice, setting out our recommended next steps and a budget where appropriate.

The cost of this service will be deducted from the total cost of your legal fees should you choose to instruct JMW to prosecute the case. Please note that the availability of the fixed fee service is subject to confirmation once we have been provided with the details of your case. 

Our team also has a list of preferred specialist barristers who will provide additional expertise and assistance for a fixed fee of £600 (inclusive of VAT). Please note that opting for this service is not necessary to obtain our initial advice. 

Businesses

For a company, bringing a prosecution can be a faster and cheaper alternative to using the civil courts when redressing suspected fraud, theft or other offences of dishonesty. A company can choose to commence a criminal investigation alongside a civil claim even where it concerns the same conduct and/or assets. This can increase the range and effectiveness of the overall action and help a business obtain justice and set a deterrent against future offending by other employees or bad actors.

Individuals

For individuals, bringing your own prosecution can sometimes be the only way to get justice when the police are too slow, are under-resourced or simply lack the expertise or willpower to investigate and prosecute your case. Too often members of the public are told that something is a 'civil matter' when it is not, or the police decide to take no further action when the evidence merits a prosecution.

To speak to a solicitor about making a private prosecution, get in touch with JMW today by calling 0345 872 6666, or fill in our online enquiry form and we will get back to you.

How JMW Can Help

JMW has one of the largest business crime and regulatory teams in the country and we work hand-in-glove with specialist investigators who are former detectives in elite UK law enforcement units, as well as leading barristers with experience of prosecuting at the highest level, to maximise the chances of a successful outcome.

We have extensive knowledge of this area of the law and a track record of success in helping clients to pursue private prosecutions and obtaining convictions. Our team is ranked in Chambers UK and the Legal 500 as a leader in the specialist category of private prosecutions, which reflects the number of successful cases that we have brought to court.

Reasons for Starting a Private Prosecution

When an employee has committed theft or fraud

Companies can act against an employee or former employee who has committed theft or fraud. Often a company will want to take advice on the criminal consequences of an employee's actions at the same time as conducting an internal investigation and following a disciplinary process. As well as recovering the proceeds of the crime, bringing a prosecution can have a deterrent effect and be an opportunity for risk-assessing its internal procedures to prevent future offending.

When the police have failed to investigate

Public confidence in the ability of the police to investigate lower priority crime is at an all-time low. Cuts to police funding and falling numbers of officers have resulted in high numbers of victims waiting months or even years for a decision or failing to have their cases actively investigated at all. We have advised many clients who have been told by the police that their complaint is a civil matter, when in fact it is a criminal one. Bringing your own prosecution with a private solicitor will almost certainly be faster than waiting for the police and Crown Prosecution Service and will give you more control than you would otherwise have over the direction and duration of the case.

When there has been perjury or an attempt to pervert the course of justice

Private prosecutors are in a better position to assess the merits of difficult cases like allegations of perjury or attempts to pervert the course of justice. If you have been convicted of a crime but suspect that witnesses in the case have broken the law, investigating the merits of a private prosecution can go hand in hand with considering an appeal against conviction.

Pursuing a group prosecution

Prosecutions are stronger where there is evidence of more than one victim. A private prosecution can be the appropriate course where individual members of the public have been defrauded by one company, for example, if they have been victims of an investment scam.