R v Wilkinson Reading Magistrates Court 2020

The defendant had been subject to a private prosecution from a neighbour seeking to prosecute her for cruelty to animals, namely a pet parrot ‘Twinkle’. Hennessy & Hammudi Solicitors were able to persuade the Crown Prosecution Service to take over the proceedings with a view to discontinuing. Once the Crown had made the decision to take over the case and discontinue, Hennessy & Hammudi made an application to re-open the proceedings for the Crown to offer no evidence. The effect of this is that it would prevent the private prosecutor from re-instituting proceedings. The application was granted and the matter was subsequently dismissed.