Umar Azmeh discusses ‘Hamilton and others v Post Office Limited’ in the Criminal Law Review

Umar Azmeh discusses ‘Hamilton and others v Post Office Limited’ in the Criminal Law Review

Umar Azmeh’s Case Comment on Hamilton and others v Post Office Limited [2021] EWCA Crim. 577 has been published in the July edition of the Criminal Law Review.

The abstract to Umar’s piece is as follows:

Comments on Hamilton v Post Office Ltd (CA) on whether the convictions of 42 subpostmasters for offences of dishonesty should be quashed, whether or not they had pleaded guilty, on the basis that it was an abuse to prosecute them in reliance on evidence derived from a computer system with known flaws and without disclosing evidence concerning the flaws, rendering a fair trial impossible and making prosecution an affront to the public conscience.

In the Case Comment, Umar covers the abusive conduct that was at the heart of the appeals, along with the potential ramifications for private prosecutions. He also notes that this may not be the last of these cases seen in the Court of Appeal, given that the Post Offie announced, in May 2021, that it was contacting hundreds more former sub-postmaster/post-mistresses to ascertain whether there are further miscarriages of justice requiring correction.

The citation for the case comment is – (2021) 8 Crim. LR 684 – and the full piece can be accessed on Westlaw.

Umar Azmeh is a solicitor at BCL, specialising in business crime, financial crime, and regulatory investigations. He has significant experience of criminal investigations involving money laundering and bribery, and has worked with clients on sanctions, tax, and proceeds of crime issues. He has expertise in commercial litigation, including civil fraud with an international dimension, and particularly where there is a criminal aspect. He has also advised both corporations and individuals on potential liability under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Fraud Act 2006, and the Bribery Act 2010, which includes drafting relevant policies for corporate clients.