‘In this post, Ross Ludlow, Legal Support Assistant at Matrix Chambers, comments on the case of R v Maughan (Northern Ireland) [2022] UKSC 13. This case considered the Northern Irish approach to reduction in sentence for defendants who plead guilty to offences at an early stage of proceedings.’
UKSC Blog, 23rd January 2023
Source: ukscblog.com
‘Dame Victoria Sharp DBE, the President of the Queen’s Bench Division, has given a speech to the National Criminal Justice Conference.’
Courts and tribunals Judiciary, 5th January 2022
Source: www.judiciary.uk
‘The Law Commission has today [17 December 2021] launched a project to review how evidence is used in prosecutions of sexual offences, and to counter misconceptions about sexual harm (“rape myths”).’
Law Commission, 17th December 2021
Source: www.lawcom.gov.uk
‘The London Borough of Waltham Forest was in breach of its duty to have a reasonable system in place to respond to requests by the police for secure accommodation for juveniles at risk of being detained in police cells overnight, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd August 2021
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘YZ, R (on the application of) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police (Rev 1) [2021] EWHC 1060 (30 April 2021). The claimant YZ had been acquitted on three counts raping his former wife but details concerning these matters remain on the Police National Computer (PNC). These proceedings concerned whether such retention was lawful.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 21st May 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Rape victims in England and Wales will be able to provide their evidence on video prior to a trial to help improve conviction rates, it is understood.’
The Guardian, 17th May 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A man with learning difficulties who admitted to a murder 30 years ago should have his conviction quashed because he confessed to police without a lawyer present, his solicitor says.’
BBC News, 16th March 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Richard Furlong and Alexandra Scott provide a brief guide to defending wives and partners in confiscation proceedings.’
Carmelite Chambers, 10th March 2021
Source: www.carmelitechambers.co.uk
‘Two new publications were issued by the Forensic Science Regulator (“FSR”) in February 2021.’
2 Hare Court, 25th February 2021
Source: www.2harecourt.com
‘Lawyers and litigants awoke this morning to the wholesale move of procedure rules to a government website described by one as “unusable”.’
Law Society's Gazette, 17th February 2021
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘An allegation of an offence in an information or charge must describe the offence in ordinary language and make it clear what the prosecutor alleges. Amendments to section 179 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) mean that it is no longer necessary, when prosecuting a defendant for non-compliance with an enforcement notice, to aver within the information the date upon which the period of compliance expired. The court held that the exact moment at which the compliance period expired was no longer of critical or defining importance. It is a necessary inference within an information that the date upon which the offence is said to have been committed, occurred after the period of compliance had expired. The prosecutor would still need to prove as a fact that the date for compliance had expired, but this fact was not essential to enable the defendant to understand what the prosecutor was alleging.’
5SAH, 16th February 2021
Source: www.5sah.co.uk
‘The Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) made three applications for the issue of a summons to commence proceedings against Bakers of Nailsea Ltd (“BNL”), the food business operator for an abattoir in Nailsea, near Bristol, for offences contrary to the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 (“the 2013 Regulations”).’
St Philips Barristers, 9th February 2021
Source: st-philips.com
‘The new 2020 versions of the Disclosure Code of Practice issued under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPIA) 1996 (“the Code”) and Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure (AGG) are probably not lockdown reading of choice for anybody. Nevertheless, they contain new procedures and a sea change in some respects and it will be essential for criminal practitioners to get to grips with the new requirements. There is a new emphasis on a thoughtful, rather than a prescriptive approach. Disclosure is to be integral to an investigation and not an adjunct.’
Devon Chambers, February 2021
Source: www.devonchambers.co.uk
‘Criminal lawyers watching Steve McQueen’s Mangrove on the BBC last year may have raised an eyebrow or two during the scenes at the Old Bailey. Lawyers are used to seeing their TV counterparts do things they would never see in their practice, yet in this case it was not an inaccuracy that stood out, but the wholly accurate portrayal of a process that is now extinct in England and Wales.’
6KBW College Hill, 11th February 2021
Source: blog.6kbw.com
‘On 8 February 2020, small but significant changes were made to the Part 3 (Case Management) of the Criminal Procedure Rules and Practice Directions 2020 (“CrimPR”). These changes remove the requirement that defendants in criminal trials provide their nationality to the court at preliminary hearings. The question is now to be asked only where a court passes an immediate or suspended custodial sentence.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th February 2021
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Anonymous witness orders are most commonly sought by the prosecution in cases involving undercover police officers. There are outliers however, cases of complexity that call for closer attention, particularly those involving allegations or fears of witness intimidation.’
Carmelite Chambers, 11th January 2021
Source: www.carmelitechambers.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court is not keen to entertain appeals on procedural points, its annual report has indicated. It handled 23 permissions to appeal (PTA) applications in relation to procedure in the year to 31 March 2019 – far more than any other category of law – and only granted permission in one of them.’
Litigation Futures, 11th June 2019
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
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