Toblerone lorry thieves jailed – The Guardian
‘Six men have been jailed after lorries and their loads including Toblerone chocolate and whiskey were stolen in Kent.’
The Guardian, 26th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
DVLA release latest list of banned licence plates – The Independent
‘The DVLA have released a list of banned licence plates, revealing while you can ORG45M you can’t have a VA61ANA on the roads.’
The Independent, 23rd May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
New law will force councils to merge services to improve adoption rates – The Guardian
‘Councils will be forced to merge services in order to speed up adoption rates, according to plans to be set out in the Queen’s speech next week. Adoption is “happening at too small and localised a scale”, the Department for Education said, and mergers would slash waiting times by increasing the pool of potential adopters.’
The Guardian, 23rd May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Gang leader who smuggled £5m of cocaine in children’s jigsaws jailed for 15 years – The Independent
‘The head of a drug smuggling gang, which hid £5 million-worth of cocaine in children’s presents, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.’
The Independent, 23rd May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Je suis James: Pianist finally allowed to tell his story of sexual abuse – UK Human Rights Blog
‘The case considered whether Mr Rhodes could be prevented from publishing his memoir on the basis that to do so would constitute the tort of intentionally causing harm. Those acting on behalf of Mr Rhodes’ son were particularly concerned about the effect upon him of learning of details of his father’s sexual abuse as a child.’
Full story
UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd May 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
HRA Watch: Reform, Repeal, Replace? Cormac Mac Amhlaigh: A Referendum on Repeal of the Human Rights Act? Why not? – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘So we finally we have some clarity. Of the many statements, quasi-proposals and rumours affecting constitutional reform which had been swirling around during the term of the last coalition government, we now know which will see the light of day as official government policy. With the surprise Conservative majority government, it is now clear that the Human Rights Act will be repealed and replaced with a British Bill of Rights and there will be a referendum on EU membership by 2017 at the latest. Given that many of these issues had already been touted by one part of the coalition, many, if not most, of the constitutional and political implications, and particularly the difficulties, of these proposals have already been thrashed out in different forums such as the recent report co-edited by my colleague Tobias Lock, as well as, of course, on the pages of this blog. I have read and benefited from these excellent insights and so have nothing to add here to the substance of these issues.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 25th May 2015
Source: http://ukconstitutionallaw.org
Non-violent extremism: some questions about laws and limits – UK Human Rights
‘Sajid Javid’s reported objections to the Government’s pre-election proposals on countering extremist ideas uncover just how controversial the new laws will be. He had objected, it seems, to a mooted expansion of Ofcom’s powers to take pre-emptive action to prevent the broadcast of programmes with ‘extremist content’ before they are transmitted.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 22nd May 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Gender recognition: what legal recognition and rights can post-operative transsexuals expect in the UK? – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
‘The legislative backdrop to both cases featured the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004), the latter being legislation enacted by Parliament to enable persons who have changed gender to have their acquired gender recognised and certified. GRA 2004 was Parliament’s response to the decision in Strasbourg in Goodwin v United Kingdom (Application No. 65723/01) [2008] All ER (D) 113 (Jan), in which it was held that the UK had failed to comply with its positive obligation to ensure the right of a transsexual to respect for her private life, in particular by affording legal recognition to her acquired gender.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 26th May 2015
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Bogus lawyers jailed after targeting the elderly with asset protection scam – Legal Futures
‘Eight people who pretended to be lawyers have been sentenced after scamming elderly people out of more than £500,000 in return for bogus asset protection trusts, with carrying out a reserved legal activity when not authorised one of the charges half of them faced.’
Legal Futures, 26th May 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Believing victims – OUP Blog
‘Hampshire Constabulary are the latest in a long line of police forces obliged to apologise to a victim of crime for failing to investigate an allegation properly. In this case, a young woman accused a man of rape. She was not believed; forensic examination of clothing was delayed; in the meanwhile, the complainant was threatened with arrest for ‘perverting the course of justice’ and she attempted suicide. Eventually, following belated forensic analysis, the man was arrested and has since then been convicted.’
OUP Blog, 22nd May 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
Does the Human Rights Act prevent us deporting serious criminals? – Free Movement
‘It is very widely believed that the Human Rights Act stops the UK from deporting foreign criminals whence they came. To a limited extent, there is some truth in this. Some appeals against deportation decisions do succeed on human rights grounds. Not many, though, and none succeed because of the Human Rights Act as distinct from the European Convention on Human Rights. Other appeals against deportation succeed under EU law or the Refugee Convention.’
Free Movement, 26th May 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
Is crowdfunded litigation the future of justice? – The Guardian
‘With legal aid in crisis, CrowdJustice selects public interest cases and invites the public to fund them. But it faces many obstacles to enacting real change.’
The Guardian, 25th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Prisons built to expel – OUP Blog
‘Every few months, a new report announces the breakdown of the British immigration system. In January, the Committee of Public Accounts issued a searing review of the Home Office’s migration policy. Three months earlier, the National Audit Office released a near-identical critique. Each publication invokes a now-familiar folk devil – the ‘foreign criminal’ – and demands better coordination between immigration enforcers and prison managers. Four times a year, we are told that governments that do not deport ‘foreign offenders’ are fundamentally unfit.’
OUP Blog, 26th May 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
British judges not bound by European court of human rights, says Leveson – The Guardian
‘Sir Brian Leveson, the judge most famous for his report into press ethics, has said he does not consider himself “crushed by the European jackboot” when it comes to applying the European convention of human rights in British courts.’
The Guardian, 24th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Queen’s Speech 2015: Scrapping the human rights act, right to buy, and an EU referendum – what you can expect – The Independent
‘The Queen’s Speech marks the start of this session of parliament. The address, written by government ministers, is delivered by the Queen and lays out the Government’s agenda for the next year.’
The Independent, 26th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
New pharmacy rules ‘should reduce dispensing mistakes’ – BBC News
‘Health ministers want to introduce an airline-style error reporting system for the UK’s high street pharmacies.’
BBC News, 24th May 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
The role of the law, in the matter of Ashya King – OUP Blog
‘Parents of a child diagnosed with a serious illness are immediately required to make decisions about their child’s medical treatment which, in order to save life, may cause pain, unpleasant side-effects and risk damaging their child’s future quality of life. The actions, last summer, of the parents of five year old Ashya King offer just one example of the lengths to which parents will go to secure the best possible treatment for their child; researching alternative treatments, securing second opinions, finding a treatment centre offering innovative or experimental treatment, travelling abroad, selling belongings or otherwise raising funds for treatment. The Internet provides access to a host of information about the side effects and risks of conventional treatment, alternative treatments available across the world – if you can pay for them – and stories of their success.’
OUP Blog, 22nd May 2015
Source: http://blog.oup.com
I wish I could pass a longer jail term, judge tells stalker – Daily Telegraph
‘Judge speaks of frustration at only being able to jail a stalker, who drove female GP to a mental breakdown, for five years.’
Daily Telegraph, 26th May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Internet troll conviction rates soar in a decade, figures reveal – The Independent
‘Convictions for crimes under a law used to prosecute internet trolls have increased nearly eight-fold in a decade, official figures reveal. Last year, 1,209 people were found guilty of offences under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 compared with 143 in 2004.’
The Independent, 24th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Legal experts call for greater scrutiny of surveillance laws – The Guardian
‘An alliance of prominent academics have signed a letter to the government warning against any expansions of state surveillance without the full involvement of parliament and the public.’
The Guardian, 26th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
