Adrian Darbishire QC, instructed by Peters & Peters, represented former Gibson Dunn partner Peter Gray in a private prosecution dismissed by the Magistrates' Court.
The defence had resisted the application for summonses on the basis that the proceedings were an abuse of the process of the Court. The District Judge agreed, commenting that “it was wholly improper to launch these proceedings.” The private prosecutor was ultimately required to pay £190,000 to the putative defendants - a substantial figure, far exceeding the norm for costs incurred in summary proceedings prosecuted by the State.
On 16 February 2017, Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Nicol described the summons application as a “clear and stark error”, falling short of the standards required of a minister of justice; launching a private prosecution at all in this case was, they said, a “strikingly inappropriate step to take”
Adrian Darbishire KC