R v Ealing Justices, ex parte Dixon

Date

3 May 1989

Legislation

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1994 ss37, 38; Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, ss.3(2), 15(2)
Copyright Act 1956

Keywords

private prosecution; police assistance; copyright offences

Counsel

Michael Worsley QC for Dixon, Jeremy Gompertz Q.C., Stuart Sleeman for the Director of Public Prosecution, Dennis Naish for the defendants

Solicitors:

Claude Hornby & Cox; Crown Prosecution Service; Knowles Cave & Co.

Judge:

Lord Woolf LJ and Saville J.

Court:

High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)

Reported:

[1990] 2 QB 91; [1989] Crim LR 835.

Summary

In this case it was held that, once a person had been arrested without warrant and charged by the police, it was no longer open to a private prosecutor (in this case a copyright protection society) to continue the prosecution. The Police only had power to entrust the Crown Prosecution Service with the conduct of the case and therefore it was not open to another person to conduct committal proceedings.

Decision:

This case was disapproved of by Lord Woolf CJ in the case of R v Criminal Cases Review Commission, ex parte Hunt. The above conclusion is no longer correct.