Adrian Darbishire QC, instructed by Peters & Peters, represented four company directors accused of false accounting and a series of Companies Act offences connected with the management of a property company. The prosecutor was a disaffected solicitor who was engaged in wide-ranging civil litigation against the company.
The defence invited the court to refuse the applications for summonses and stay the proceedings, on the basis of the motives of the prosecutor and the inadequacy of the evidence upon which it was based. The Court stayed the proceedings, concluding that the prosecution was brought for an ulterior purpose and was an abuse of the process of the court. Having received further submissions, the Court made a section 19 costs order in favour of the defendants in the sum of £33,000.
Adrian Darbishire KC