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The end of an era ( @joerichlaw) Just a reminder of why this matters and why it's a very good thing 1/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/28/rspca-plans-to-stop-taking-animal-abusers-to-court-privately
I investigated the RSPCA's zealous prosecutions for BBC Newsnight, Disability Now and Private Eye, found a clear pattern of disabled and older people facing prosecutions 2/
Arguable that many of them would have met the CPS public interest test. Also details of defendants, many of them very vulnerable, were widely circulated 3/
So defendants, some of whom had mental health conditions, would then get targeted by animal rights activists on top of a prosecution 4/
We separated investigation and prosecution in our legal system in the 1980's for a sensible reason - there should be a firewall between those functions and accountability. In Scotland, the SSPCA doesn't prosecute, so why the RSPCA? 5/
It wasn't fair to defendants, it damaged the RSPCA's reputation and I'm glad this sorry period is over and the charity can get back to protecting animals, not prosecuting humans
Any brave peep who wants to plough through my Newsnight investigation transcript, fill your boots here: https://katharinequarmby.com/2013/01/28/why-the-rspca-should-stop-its-private-prosecutions/
