“The government has given its strongest indication yet that it may back down over plans to hold the forthcoming Iraq inquiry in secret.”
Full story
The Guardian, 21st June 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A divorcing wife who made legal history when the law lords awarded her a £250,000-a-year payout from her husband has won a 40 per cent increase in her maintenance payments.”
The Times, 19th June 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A woman accused of starving her daughter to death threatened a social worker who looked through her letterbox with legal action, a court has heard.”
BBC News, 19th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A judge has condemned a ‘grotesque’ waste of taxpayers’ money spent on prosecuting teenager Larissa Wilkinson for allowing her 18 month-old niece to drop a sweet wrapper.”
Daily Telegraph, 19th June 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Former cabinet minister Lord Falconer has joined calls for the Iraq inquiry to be held ‘largely’ in public.”
BBC News, 19th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Senior judges have ordered an increase in the amount of compensation paid to Stephen Miller, a victim of a miscarriage of justice, in a test case lawyers said would have a ‘profound effect’ on such awards.”
Daily Telegraph, 19th June 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A public inquiry into the 2002 Potters Bar rail crash which claimed seven lives, and the 2007 Grayrigg derailment in which an elderly passenger was killed, has been ruled out by the Government.”
Daily Telegraph, 19th June 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Four families of servicemen killed in Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan are to sue the Ministry of Defence, the BBC has learned.”
BBC News, 19th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“There is no legal barrier in the UK to internet service providers (ISPs) blocking content from website operators who do not pay them. Neither consumer law nor telecoms regulation protects ISP subscribers, technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio has revealed.”
OUT-LAW.com, 19th June 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
“The Coroners and Justice Bill is the government’s attempt to implement that long-awaited reform. Some practitioners and pressure groups are concerned that the bill doesn’t go far enough, and that there isn’t enough money behind it to make it work. There is a real risk, they say, that this bill will come to be seen as a missed opportunity.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 18th June 2009
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Changes to fees in the civil courts are to be introduced in order to target taxpayers’ money more effectively while helping those in financial difficulty, Justice Minister Bridget Prentice announced today (18 June).”
Ministry of Justice, 18th June 2009
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
Gray v Thames Trains Ltd and Another
House of Lords
“A claimant who, as a result of a railway accident caused by the defendants’ negligence, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder which led him to kill someone, could not recover damages for loss of earnings following his detention, in prison and in mental hospital, after the killing.”
The Times, 19th June 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Why are we asking this now?
The Government had been due to award a key contract as part of its grand biometric ID card scheme this autumn. Three companies – Thales, Fujitsu and IBM – were bidding for the right to develop the cards’ design and handle their production. But this week the Home Office admitted a decision might not be made until the second half of 2010. This is the second delay to have hit the Government’s ID card scheme. Under the original plans, the widespread roll-out of the cards would have taken place next year. Now it is not due until 2012.”
The Independent, 19th June 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“BBC News has seen an official letter which appears to cast doubt on claims by Justice Secretary Jack Straw that probation failings in the Dano Sonnex case were due to staff mismanaging their resources.”
BBC News, 19th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Gordon Brown has been forced to open up the terms of the newly announced Iraq war inquiry after facing hostility to his plans from a broad coalition of former generals, former prime minister John Major and peers from all parties.”
The Guardian, 18th June 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith ‘chose to disregard’ the impact of a computer hacker’s mental health problems when she approved his extradition to the US, an MP said today.”
The Independent, 18th June 2009
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A court official fixed the selection of jurors to allow her neighbours to sit on the panel and claim £8,000 in expenses.”
Daily Telegraph, 18th June 2009
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Jury intimidation or ‘nobbling’ is not new; it has been going on for centuries. It was a series of attempts to intimidate jurors that led to the introduction of majority verdicts in the Criminal Justice Act 1967, so that there could be a conviction even if one or two jurors disagreed.”
The Times, 19th June 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Britain’s constitutional affairs minister, Michael Wills, is urging his fellow ministers not to backtrack over ending the dual role of the attorney general as politician and legal adviser to the government. It is vital to separate the roles in order to maintain public confidence in the way critical decisions are reached, he says.”
The Guardian, 17th June 2009
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Court of Appeal has ruled that a criminal trial can take place in front of a judge without a jury for the first time in England and Wales.”
BBC News, 18th June 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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