Malicious Prosecution

Lots of people are tried for offenses and not found guilty. But you have limited rights in law to claim compensation in this case. You can claim compensation only if you can show you have been a victim of a 'malicious' (deliberately harmful) prosecution. You have to show four specific things to be able to claim compensation. These are as follows:

.: The prosecution caused you damage or harm.

You have to show that:-

• You were charged with an offence that you could be sent to prison for.
• Being prosecuted damaged your reputation; or
• Defending the case cost you money.

.: You 'won' your case.

You win your case if:-

• You were found 'not guilty' after a trial.
• The case was dropped before it got to trial.
• The magistrates would not send your case to the Crown Court for trial; or
• You were found guilty, but succeeded in your appeal against the verdict.

.: The police did not have 'reasonable or probable cause' to prosecute you.

• The police didn't believe you were guilty; or
• There wasn't a good reason for the police to believe that you were guilty.

In most cases it is difficult to show either of these two things, and this is why there are very few claims for malicious prosecution.

.: The police acted 'maliciously'.

You have to prove that the police prosecuted you for an unacceptable reason. Sometimes you can do this by referring to something that a police officer said. Sometimes the circumstances make it clear that the police can't have been acting properly. As well as claims for malicious prosecution, it is possible to get compensation for miscarriages of justice if you were found guilty, and new facts have come to light which show that the conviction was a miscarriage of justice.

.: Prosecuting an individual police officer.

If you think that an individual police officer has committed a criminal offence, you can bring a private prosecution against them. You will need advice from a solicitor before you do this, to make sure that you have enough evidence and that the evidence is in the right form. Bear in mind that magistrates or a jury can convict someone only if they are satisfied 'beyond reasonable doubt' that the person is
guilty this means that they have to be certain that the person is guilty. You will have to have very strong evidence for this.

There are other difficulties with bringing a private prosecution. These are as follows.

• You can't get funding for your legal costs from the Community Legal Service.
• If you pay privately for a solicitor to represent you, the cost could be high, especially if the case is tried in the Crown Court (which is only for more serious offenses).
• If you lose your case, you may have to pay the police officer's legal costs.

If you win your case and the officer is found guilty, you can ask the court to make the officer pay:

• compensation; and
• your legal costs.

However, the court won't automatically do this, and any compensation that you get will almost certainly be less than you would get if you sued the police.