At the meeting of the Bar Standards Board on 25 January the Director General, Mark Neale, made the following statement in relation to the current Post Office Inquiry:
Given the recent heightened public interest in the wrongful prosecutions brought by the Post Office against sub-postmasters and mistresses and the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, I feel it important to provide the Board at this public session with a general update on the BSB’s work in relation to barristers involved in the Post Office cases and related litigation who may have failed to fulfil their duties and or meet the standards expected of them.
It would be inappropriate to provide details about individual cases. Some matters have already been referred to investigation and as a Core Participant we are closely monitoring the progress of the Inquiry. However, it is unlikely that we will move forward with regulatory action until all relevant evidence has been heard by the Inquiry.
We do not consider the evidence presented at the Inquiry so far, or the evidence we have received direct, indicates that any members of the Bar present an ongoing risk to the public that requires the BSB to act immediately. However, should such evidence emerge then we would consider taking more immediate regulatory action.
As usual, decisions in individual cases will of course remain with the Executive and not the Board and we shall be following our usual approach of dealing with all cases in confidence unless they ultimately result in a Disciplinary Tribunal hearing.
ENDS
Notes to editors
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