Joined-up justice

FOR the wheels of justice to operate smoothly, it requires all the relevant agencies to work together to bring about successful prosecutions.

This clearly did not happen in the case that has been dropped against nine men who were accused of abusing a mobility scheme for disabled drivers.

It's not just the reported cost – 500,000 – which makes this matter so serious. It's the amount of wasted time that was devoted to the aborted prosecution.

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More fundamentally, it is the fact that the police, and others, were unaware of a decision by HM Revenue & Customs to effectively give two of the accused immunity from prosecution.

Given the complexity of this case, it defies belief that the HMRC maintained its own counsel for so long. At the very least, this matter should have been put before a jury – rather than allowing the matter

to be determined by secret deals that have no place in the criminal justice system.

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