Stop and search: Police training aims to raise standards – BBC News
‘New standards and training for police officers using stop and search are to be rolled out across England and Wales.’
BBC News, 27th October 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
MPs and peers question independence of press watchdog – The Guardian
‘The press watchdog is facing questions over its independence after Trevor Kavanagh, one of its board members, used his regular Sun column to criticise the Channel 4 News reporter Fatima Manji just days after her complaint against the tabloid was rejected.’
The Guardian, 27th October 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
What if they are innocent? Justice for people accused of sexual and child abuse – OUP Blog
‘Many people watching the UK television drama National Treasure will have made their minds up about the guilt or innocence of the protagonist well before the end of the series. In episode one we learn that this aging celebrity has ‘slept around’ throughout his long marriage but when an allegation of non-recent sexual assault is made he strenuously denies it. His wife knows about his infidelities and chooses to believe him, but his daughter, who for years has struggled with mental ill-health, substance abuse problems and fractured relationships, seems to be troubled by memories from her childhood. As the episodes unfold, the series gives the audience chance to be judge and jury, employing whatever bits of information are available to them and, not least, their own prior assumptions about such cases.’
OUP Blog, 21st October 2016
Source: www.blog.oup.com
Abused woman ‘failed’ as imam Hifiz Rahman flees – BBC News
‘A woman who was abused as a child by an imam said she has been “failed by the justice system” after he was able to flee the country before being jailed.’
BBC News, 25th October 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Reducing the Homelessness Reduction Bill. Part 1 – Nearly Legal
‘Monday’s big news was the Govt announcement that it will support the Homelessness Reduction Bill – Bob Blackman MP’s private members bill, due for second reading on 28 October. But exactly what is it that the Govt is supporting?’
Nearly Legal, 25th October 2016
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Whose Article 10 rights – the journalist or the confidential source? – Panopticon
‘Does a media corporation breach a source’s article 10 rights by voluntarily disclosing their identity to the police? Is source confidentiality lost by criminal conduct? These are the questions that the Court of Appeal had to grapple with in the appeal against conviction brought by former prison officer Robert Norman.’
Panopticon, 24th October 2016
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
Law schools urged to reconsider how they prepare students for practice amid concerns about ethics – Legal Futures
‘More than one in five law students polled in the UK and the US admit that they would falsify time records for personal and business gain, according to a study of student ethics.’
Legal Futures, 25th October 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Quantifying Damages for Breach of Privacy – UK Human Rights Blog
‘In October 2013, the Home Office published statistics on its family returns process, the means by which children with no right to remain in the UK are sent back to their country of origin. In addition to anonymised statistics uploaded onto the government website, the Home Office mistakenly uploaded the spreadsheet of raw data on which those statistics were based. That spreadsheet included personal details such as names and rough geographical locations of applicants for asylum or leave to remain, though not their addresses. The data was online for 13 days before being removed, but a number of IP addresses in the UK and abroad visited the relevant web page. Those concerned were notified, and brought claims under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the common law tort of misuse of private information.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 25th October 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Offensive weapons, sentencing and costs – Law Society’s Gazette
‘While an offence of possessing an offensive weapon does not occur if a person is lawfully in possession of an article when it is suddenly used in the heat of an altercation, R v Tucker [2016] EWCA Crim 13 confirms that it is otherwise if a person leaves the scene to collect a weapon.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 10th October 2016
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Christopher Biggins cleared by Ofcom over Big Brother bisexual comments – BBC News
‘Comments about bisexuality made by Christopher Biggins on Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother have been found not in breach of broadcasting rules.’
BBC News, 24th October 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Man jailed for stalking mother of murdered toddler James Bulger – The Guardian
‘A man has been jailed for stalking the mother of the murdered toddler James Bulger.’
The Guardian, 25th October 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Recent Statutory Instruments – legislation.gov.uk
The Family Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2016
The Water Act 2014 (Commencement No. 7 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2016
The National Police Records (Recordable Offences) (Amendment) Regulations 2016
The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016
The Childcare Payments (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2016
The Biofuels and Hydrocarbon Oil Duties (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2016
The Aqua Methanol (Use as Additive or Extender) (Rates of Excise Duty) Order 2016
The Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 (Consequential Amendments) (No. 2) Order 2016
The Deregulation Act 2015 (Commencement No. 6 and Savings Provision) Order 2016
Source: www.legislation.gov.uk
Woodfield v JJ Gallagher Ltd and others (Cherwell District Council and another as interested parties) – WLR Daily
‘The developers challenged the adoption by the council of a single policy in the local plan. The judge allowed the appeal and made an order that the Secretary of State appoint a planning inspector who would recommend adoption of the policy subject to a modification and that the council adopt the policy subject to that modification. The developers and the Secretary of State opposed an appeal brought by an objector who, although not a party below, was given permission to appeal.’
WLR Daily, 12th October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Webber v Department for Education (Pensions Ombudsman intervening) – WLR Daily
Webber v Department for Education (Pensions Ombudsman intervening) [2016] EWHC 2519 (Ch)
‘The complainant was a teacher and a member of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. In November 2009 the pension scheme’s administrator wrote to the complainant seeking recovery of pension overpayments in respect of each year since 2002. The complainant made a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman, pursuant to Part X of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, in which he took a limitation defence. The administrator wrote to the ombudsman in December 2011, indicating it opposed the complaint. The ombudsman went on to reject the complainant’s limitation defence. On his appeal, the High Court held that the complainant had a limitation defence for the recovery of any overpayments made more than six years before the relevant date when the limitation period was to be regarded as having stopped. On a further determination, the ombudsman held that the relevant cut off date for the purposes of limitation was that of the November 2009 letter, namely, the date of an unequivocal demand.’
WLR Daily, 14th October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
McPhee v The Queen – WLR Daily
McPhee v The Queen [2016] UKPC 29
‘The defendant, a 17-year-old from Nassau, was arrested on a neighbouring island of The Bahamas on suspicion of murder following an armed robbery. He gave his mother’s phone number in Nassau to the police but no contact with her was established and no lawyer was called. After more than 31 hours in custody, during which time the custody log showed he had been taken from his cell several times but without any record made of his being questioned, a church minister in his mid-seventies was asked to come to the police station to witness the defendant make a statement. The minister did not speak to the defendant alone nor offer him any advice, but observed that the defendant was hungry and gave the police money to buy him a meal, after which the defendant made a written statement under caution confessing to the murder. Apart from the confession the only evidence against the defendant was that of another defendant who became a prosecution witness during the trial. At trial, the defendant claimed that his statement had been made following torture and so was not admissible. The judge rejected the claim of torture but did not consider whether the taking of the defendant from his cells had been for the purpose of informal interrogation, or whether the minister could properly be said to have been acting as an “appropriate adult” for the witnessing of a juvenile’s confession, and allowed the confession to go before the jury. The defendant was convicted of murder. The conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The defendant appealed to the Privy Council on the grounds, inter alia, that the confession should have been excluded under section 20 of the Bahamas Evidence Act as being unreliable, by reason of the defendant having been subjected to unrecorded questioning in the absence of a lawyer or appropriate adult and in any event should have been excluded as unfair under section 178 of the Bahamas Evidence Act.’
WLR Daily, 24th October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
HM Revenue & Customs v GMAC (UK) Plc [2016] EWCA Civ 1015 (25 October 2016)
HM Revenue & Customs v Infinity Distribution Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 1014 (25 October 2016)
Infinis Energy Holdings Ltd v HM Treasury & Anor [2016] EWCA Civ 1030 (21 October 2016)
R (Child), Re [2016] EWCA Civ 1016 (20 October 2016)
Brogden & Anor v Investec Bank Plc [2016] EWCA Civ 1031 (20 October 2016)
Cardiff County Council v Lee (Flowers) [2016] EWCA Civ 1034 (19 October 2016)
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Norman, R v [2016] EWCA Crim 1564 (20 October 2016)
Nelson & Anor, R v [2016] EWCA Crim 1517 (20 October 2016)
Geraghty v R [2016] EWCA Crim 1523 (18 October 2016)
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Chancery Division)
Price v The Registrar of Companies & Anor [2016] EWHC 2640 (Ch) (25 October 2016)
Bramwell & Ors v Robinson [2016] EWHC B26 (Ch) (21 October 2016)
Heathcliffe Properties Ltd v Dodhia & Anor [2016] EWHC 2628 (Ch) (20 October 2016)
Abbott & Ors v RCI Europe [2016] EWHC 2602 (Ch) (20 October 2016)
Sovereign Trustees Ltd & Anor v Lewis [2016] EWHC 2593 (Ch) (18 October 2016)
High Court (Commercial Court)
Marathon Asset Management LLP & Anor v Seddon & Ors [2016] EWHC 2615 (Comm) (21 October 2016)
Transocean Drilling UK Ltd v Providence Resources Plc [2016] EWHC 2611 (Comm) (20 October 2016)
OJSC Bank of Moscow v Chernyakov & Ors [2016] EWHC 2583 (Comm) (20 October 2016)
High Court (Family Division)
J (A Minor), Re [2016] EWHC 2430 (Fam) (21 October 2016)
Thum v Thum [2016] EWHC 2634 (Fam) (21 October 2016)
J (A Minor), Re [2016] EWHC 2595 (Fam) (21 October 2016)
High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Rush Hair Ltd v Gibson-Forbes & Anor [2016] EWHC 2589
Lokhova v Longmuir [2016] EWHC 2579 (QB) (20 October 2016)
High Court (Technology and Construction Court)
Fluor Ltd v Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Ltd [2016] EWHC 2500 (TCC) (19 October 2016)
Supreme court case reopens debate over battlefield human rights – The Guardian
‘The political row over whether human rights law can be extended to the battlefield will be reopened this week in a supreme court case over the legality of detaining a Taliban suspect in Afghanistan.’
The Guardian, 25th October 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
High Court rejects security for costs application in face of £5m ATE policy – Litigation Futures
‘The High Court has accepted after-the-event (ATE) insurance cover of £5m as sufficient to dismiss an application for security for costs.’
Litigation Futures, 24th October 2016
Source: www. litigationfutures.com
Defendant penalised after “unreasonably” refusing to mediate costs dispute – Litigation Fures
‘Newspaper group Mirror Group Newspapers has been hit with indemnity costs after the Senior Costs Judge ruled that it had unreasonably failed to engage in efforts to use alternative dispute resolution instead of going to detailed assessment.’
Litigation Futures, 20th October 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
High Court bids to minimise delay in bitter costs dispute between solicitors – Litigation Futures
‘A High Court master has rejected an application from a Leicestershire solicitor for trial of a preliminary issue in a costs claim involving another law firm, citing the “high degree of personal animosity between the parties”.’
Litigation Futures, 18th October 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
