“More than 90,000 of the worst serial offenders avoided jail last year as the numbers soared by a quarter in five years.”
Daily Telegraph, 17th January 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A man who abducted his young daughter, took her to Pakistan and refused to reveal her whereabouts for more three years should stay in jail, a judge has ruled.”
The Guardian, 14th January 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“On 11 December 2012 Mr Justice Mostyn handed down judgment in J Council v GU and others [2012] EWHC 3531 (COP) approving arrangements aimed at safeguarding the Article 8 (private and family life) rights of a 57 year old man detained under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in a private care home. At seven pages, the judgment was admirably concise.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 7th January 2013
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“A father who admitted biting off part of another man’s finger at a children’s nativity play has been told a jail sentence is almost inevitable.”
The Guardian, 18th December 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Immigration casework needs to improve so that people aren’t detained for longer than necessary, said Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, and John Vine, Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, publishing the report of a thematic review of immigration detention casework.”
HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 12th December 2012
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
“More than 40 people facing deportation have been held for longer than two years in prisons and immigration removal centres at a cost to the taxpayer of nearly £40,000 each, official inspectors have revealed.”
The Guardian, 12th December 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Changes are in the pipeline for the sentencing of sex offenders. But what principles govern how long a criminal is jailed for?”
BBC News, 6th December 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
M v Scottish Ministers [2012] UKSC 58; [2012] WLR (D) 365
“It had been unlawful for the Scottish Ministers to fail to make the necessary regulations defining a who was a ‘qualifying patient’ detained at a ‘qualifying hospital’ and thus entitled to apply for a declaration from the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland that he was a person detained under conditions of excessive security pursuant to section 268 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 which came into force on 1 May 2006 pursuant to section 333(2) of that Act.”
WLR Daily, 28th November 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“Seven teenagers who claim they were punished unlawfully will begin a legal battle against a Bristol prison later.”
BBC News, 4th December 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Regina (L) v West London Mental Health NHS Trust [2012] EWHC 3200 (Admin); [2012] WLR (D) 357
“The common law duty to act fairly was engaged when a decision was made as to whether to transfer a patient detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 from a medium to a high security hospital.”
WLR Daily, 13th November 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“A raft of new criminal offences have come into force in England and Wales, as well as tougher prison sentences for violent crimes.”
BBC News, 3rd December 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“An SAS veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan will lodge an appeal on Wednesday against a decision to jail him for possessing a pistol and live ammunition at his home in Britain.”
The Guardian, 20th November 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The attorney general has said it would be inappropriate for him to intervene in the case of a jailed SAS soldier, after a request by the defence secretary for him to review the conviction.”
The Guardian, 20th November 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Police officers often face ‘no realistic option’ other than locking children as young as 11 years old in cells under mental health laws, it has emerged.”
The Independent, 18th November 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“The treatment of 17-year-old suspects in police stations could be transformed if a legal challenge against the Home Office succeeds in overturning detention rules.”
The Guardian, 11th November 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Only a few weeks after giving the Birkenhead lecture entitled ‘Dissenting judgments – self indulgence or self sacrifice?’ (See David Hart QC’s previous post), Lord Kerr delivered the leading judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Rahmatullah. Given that the issue of a man’s liberty was at stake, it could be no real surprise for Lord Kerr or anyone else that there were two dissenting judgments in the cross-appeal provided by Lord Carnwath and Lady Hale. They made clear that in their view the UK should have done more to secure the release of detainee Yunis Rahmatullah and in doing so raised questions as to the proper limits of judicial intervention into the ‘forbidden area’ of foreign policy.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 3rd November 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“The UK government has been blocked from resuming the transfer of detainees caught in Afghanistan by UK forces to the Afghan authorities.”
BBC News, 2nd November 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Related link: Document released in court by MoD
“Where, on an application for a writ of habeas corpus, the court was uncertain whether the respondents had sufficient control of the applicant to be able to produce him, it could properly issue the writ so that on the return that question could be determined with fuller knowledge.”
WLR Daily, 31st October 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“Where an application was made pursuant to section 39A(1) of the Child Support Act 1991 for the committal of a person to a term of imprisonment for wilful refusal or culpable neglect in not having complied with orders to pay child support maintenance, a strict construction was to be placed on the word ‘sought’ within section 39A(1)(a) of the 1991 Act as applying to a pre-condition governing the making of such a committal order.”
WLR Daily, 30th October 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The Supreme Court has ruled that the law of habeas corpus should not be used to order the US to return a Pakistani national held in US custody to the UK.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 31st October 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
