London borough acted unlawfully in dismissing three housing officers, tribunal rules – Local Government Lawyer
‘The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham acted unlawfully when it dismissed three housing officers, an Employment Tribunal has ruled. The ruling of the East London Employment Tribunal was handed down last month (27 December), following a hearing in October and November 2018. The council dismissed the three employees in the summer of 2017, suggesting that their roles were redundant. However, the Employment Judge ruled that in reality their roles were not redundant and that all three employees were unfairly dismissed.’
Local Government Lawyer, 11th January 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Court orders insurer to cover negligent solicitors’ unpaid costs – Legal Futures
‘The insurer of a negligent Italian law firm operating in London has been ordered to pay £3m in costs to the victims after the lawyers failed to pay up.’
Legal Futures, 14th January 2018
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Opinion: Why do we separate the mother and child victims of domestic abuse? – Family Law
‘Domestic abuse hurts children, whether they are the direct target, or find themselves witness to warfare in their home. The latest government figures show that half of all children assessed as needing social services support are in that plight through domestic abuse – and when social workers feel a child is no longer safe at home, they can be removed into the care system. This means being taken away from their mothers – typically the victim in all this. But she’s not usually the one being violent. Most often, it’s the children’s father or stepfather who is. As rates of reported domestic abuse soar – incidents sufficiently serious to be recorded by police as crimes rose 5% between 2016 and 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics – it’s estimated by the charity Safe Lives that 130,000 children live in households with “high‑risk” domestic abuse. So why are victims investigated by social services, rather than the perpetrators who cause such physical and mental harm?’
Family Law, 14th January 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
Summary: What offences may be committed if someone is shouted at or approached by another person in the street? – Crown Prosecution Service
‘This summary does not cover every eventuality but intends to outline some of the possible criminal offences that may be committed. It should not be treated as legal advice and is not meant to be an exhaustive account of this area of law.
The police are responsible for investigating an allegation that a crime has been committed. Following investigation, the decision whether to charge a person with a criminal offence lies either with the police or the CPS.
Where a series of existing offences – including harassment and public order offences – are committed, and such an offence was motivated by hostility to race or religion, or was accompanied by hostility to race or religion proximate to the commission of the offence, a separate racially or religious aggravated offence is committed attracting a greater penalty. For further details, see the CPS-published guidance on this website. For those offences not covered but where hostility or hostile motivation towards race or religion is present, or hostility or hostile motivation towards disability, sexual orientation or transgender is present, this must be treated as an aggravating factor at sentence and stated as such in open court.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 11th January 2018
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Financial Remedy & Divorce Update, January 2019 – Family Law Week
‘Rose-Marie Drury, Senior Associate, and Sue Brookes, Principal Associate, Mills & Reeve LLP analyse the news and case law relating to financial remedies and divorce during December 2018.’
Family Law Week, 11th January 2018
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Grayling under fire as serious crimes committed on parole soar by 50% – The Guardian
‘The number of rapes, murders and other serious crimes committed by offenders on parole has risen by more than 50% since reforms to probation were introduced four years ago, according to official data that has triggered calls for the government to rethink its plans for another shake-up of the service.’
The Guardian, 12th January 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Prison sentences: Charities and probation staff union welcome proposals – BBC News
‘Ministers are being warned that a proposal to scrap prison sentences of six months or less will only work if there is more investment in the probation services. The government says this approach in England and Wales’ prisons could reduce overcrowding and re-offending.’
BBC News, 12th January 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Victims of self-storage warehouse fire to sue over safety failures – Daily Telegraph
‘Hundreds of people are planning a legal challenge against a self-storage company as they claim safety failures led to the destruction of more than 1,000 people’s possessions.’
Daily Telegraph, 12th January 2018
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Child abuse inquiry refuses to publish evidence on Gove phone call claim – The Guardian
‘A public inquiry has refused to publish evidence that could shed light on an allegation that Michael Gove intervened in a child sexual abuse investigation.
He has been accused of trying, during his time as education secretary, to find out about an investigation into a priest suspected of abusing a boy at a boarding school.
The accusation has been made by two witnesses who have testified to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).’
The Guardian, 14th January 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Javid and Hammond team up to tackle £14bn of economic crimes – The Guardian
‘The home secretary and chancellor are to launch a joint assault on fraud, bribery, corruption and money laundering. Sajid Javid and Philip Hammond will chair a new taskforce that will work with senior figures in the financial sector to tackle economic crime. This is a broad category covering a range of illegal activity, with the Home Office estimating its scale to be at least £14.4bn a year.’
The Guardian, 14th January 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Hillsborough disaster: David Duckenfield’s trial due to begin – BBC News
‘The manslaughter trial of the police officer in command during the Hillsborough disaster will begin later.’
BBC News, 14th January 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Man wrong to think kisses in estranged wife’s texts were ‘flirtatious’, judge rules – The Independent
‘A woman who ended text messages with a kiss was not being “flirtatious” with her estranged husband, a judge has ruled.’
The Independent, 13th January 2018
Source: www.independent.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Chancery Division)
Mental Health Care (UK) Ltd v Edward Lupen Healthcare Ltd & Ors [2019] EWHC 1 (Ch) (09 January 2019)
Source: www.bailii.org
Court of Appeal rules against council over decision resident was not homeless – Local Government Lawyer
‘Sandwell Borough Council acted wrongly when it considered an application for a local resident to be treated as homeless, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 10th January 2019
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Court costs capped at £80,000 under voluntary pilot in England – OUT-LAW.com
‘Court costs will be capped at £80,000 should parties opt into a pilot that gets underway in the business and property courts (BPCs) in England next week, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed.’
OUT-LAW.com, 10th January 2019
Source: www.out-law.com
Damages for wrongful life refused – UK Human Rights Blog
‘Legal policy in the UK has traditionally prohibited the granting of damages for the wrongful conception or birth of a child in cases of negligence. In this case the Court of Appeal has confirmed that this bar is equally applicable to a wrongful birth arising from a breach of contract.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 10th January 2019
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
CPS to test three alleged harassment cases after Soubry abused outside parliament – The Guardian
‘Three cases of alleged harassment outside parliament have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service after the MP Anna Soubry was repeatedly abused and blocked from entering parliament by pro-Brexit supporters earlier this week.’
The Guardian, 10th January 2019
Source: www.theguardian.com
Asylum applications: Home Office urged to use lie detectors – BBC News
‘People seeking asylum in the UK should take a lie detector test as part of their application, the former chief of UK immigration enforcement says.’
BBC News, 11th January 2019
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
