Christopher Houssemayne du Boulay in Law360 on claims SFO discourages internal criticism

Hickman & Rose partner Christopher Houssemayne du Boulay has been quoted in a Law360 article examining claims by former SFO investigator Philip Jackson that the agency discourages staff from criticising its prosecutions in writing.

Christopher was part of the Hickman & Rose team which, in acting for a defendant in the recent G4S prosecution, exposed how the SFO’s Autonomy Introspect digital evidence management system did not return all relevant results to disclosure requests.

This revelation was instrumental in the G4S prosecution’s collapse, and led to the SFO conducting a wholesale review of past cases in which the Autonomy programme has been used.

In relation to Mr Jackson’s claims, made at an employment tribunal, that he was told not to criticise SFO cases in writing for fear that this may ultimately become disclosable, Christopher told Law 360: “Contemporaneous record-keeping of the full unvarnished views of experienced SFO officers […] ought to be encouraged, not sidelined [….] If the SFO has nothing to hide, then what does it have to fear?“

Christopher went on: “Insisting that concerns be raised orally and only recorded in official minutes gives rise to a realrisk of those concerns being downplayed, or, worse, ignored altogether.“

The full Law360 article is available to subscribers here.