We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. – Ayn Rand.

In an article of 18 October 2013, The Independent tells us:

Michael Doherty has triumphed in his five-year battle to personally bring criminal charges against a Met civilian worker, Tracey Murphy, who is alleged to have made false claims about the former aircraft engineer in a sworn witness statement.

It is believed to be the first time in UK legal history that an individual, rather than the Crown Prosecution Service, has managed to launch a private prosecution against a police civilian worker.

This ruling is unprecedented in that a private individual will be continuing a private criminal prosecution after the Crown Prosecution Service took over the case in November 2011 and tried unsuccessfully to drop the case, leading Mr Doherty to launch a judicial review.

Mr Doherty explained:

The failure of public institutions like IPCC and the CPS forced me to take this unusual route. The proper place for this matter to be adjudicated is before a jury, not in a back office.”

A CPS spokesperson said:

“In accordance with CPS legal guidance, where both the evidential and public interest stages of the Code for Crown Prosecutors have been met, a private prosecution should only be taken over if there is a particular need for the CPS to do so.”

The HDJ team will be watching this case with interest. The die is cast, the precedent set, a precedent which may yet prove the undoing of those who attempt to silence Anne Greig in her campaign to seek justice for her Daughter and Brother.