Are campaigners using the criminal justice system to pursue their political agendas?

Late last year a Judge in Oxford Magistrates’ court questioned the RSPCA for running up a legal bill of a third of a million pounds on a low-level case when the defendant’s costs were £35,000. This prompted me to ask some questions about private prosecutions and the RSPCA’s prolific use of them through the formal route of parliamentary questions and a debate in Westminster Hall. It has become worryingly clear that no-one, including the Government, has any idea what is going on.

Private prosecutions might be funded privately (although even this comes with caveats), but they take place in the criminal courts so surely the Government would know how many such prosecutions take place, what the outcomes were, and what cost the taxpayer was left to meet? I was wrong. The Ministry of Justice does not know, nor does the Attorney General’s office. I also assumed the Ministry of Justice would know, at the touch of a button, what proportion of UK private prosecutions are brought by the charity.