Reconsider Gaza family case, court tells Foreign Office – BBC News
‘A Palestinian family who are trying to get the UK government to help them flee Gaza have won a critical ruling in their legal battle.’
BBC News, 28th July 2025
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London homeless hostel failed vulnerable resident in multiple ways before fatal overdose, review says – The Guardian
‘An award-winning homeless hostel in the constituency of the prime minister, Keir Starmer, has been lambasted after an independent investigation into the death of one of its residents.’
The Guardian, 28th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
New Child Safety Duties Under the Online Safety Act: What Online Platforms Must Know – Criminal Law Blog
‘As of 25 July 2025, new child safety duties under the Online Safety Act have come into force, requiring online platforms to implement robust safety measures to prevent children from accessing illegal or harmful content. The consequences for non-compliance are significant, making it essential for online providers to understand their new obligations.’
Criminal Law Blog, 28th July 2025
Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk
Couple planning ‘brutal’ sex attacks on children jailed – BCC News
‘A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for planning “brutal” sex offences against children, alongside his hospital worker girlfriend.’
BBC News, 28th July 2025
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Tracking down the abducted ‘P’ – a menu of options for Court of Protection practitioners – Mental Capacity Law and Policy
‘The Court of Protection on occasion has to deal with those who are determined to stymie its jurisdiction. In Kirk v Devon County Council [2017] EWCA Civ 34, Sir James Munby, through gritted teeth, accepted that the end of the line had been reached in relation to a P who had been abducted to Portugal. In Re AB & Ors [2025] EWCOP 27 (T3), McKendrick J refused to accept that the end of the line had yet been reached in relation to a P abducted to Jamaica. His reasons for giving a detailed judgment setting out the background and the concerns relating to P were two-fold.’
Mental Capacity Law and Policy, 28th July 2025
UK ban on Palestine Action at odds with international law, says UN rights chief – The Guardian
‘The UK government’s ban on Palestine Action limits the rights and freedoms of people in the UK and is at odds with international law, the UN human rights chief has said.’
The Guardian, 25th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Supreme Court backs cumulative approach under freedom of information regime to public interest and qualified exemptions – Local Government Lawyer
‘Where information falls within multiple qualified exemptions, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) requires the public interest in maintaining each of those qualified exemptions to be aggregated, the Supreme Court has ruled by a 3-2 majority.’
Local Government Lawyer, 28th July 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Missing documents and inadequate reasons – A ‘suitability’ s.204 appeal – Nearly Legal
‘The Appellant (A) brought a successful s. 204 appeal against Lambeth’s (R) decision to discharge the main housing duty by offering her and her children out of borough accommodation.’
Nearly Legal, 27th July 2025
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Two boys jailed for at least 15 years over London bus killing of Kelyan Bokassa, 14 – The Guardian
‘Two teenagers who smiled as they fatally stabbed a 14-year-old schoolboy on a bus have been sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.’
The Guardian, 25th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
The return of the super-injunction – Law Society’s Gazette
‘In Ministry of Defence v Global Media Entertainment Ltd and Ors, it can now be reported that the British government obtained a super-injunction which lasted nearly two years preventing the disclosure: (i) that a dataset had been leaked containing the personal information and contact details of nearly 19,000 persons who applied for relocation to the UK from Afghanistan following the Taliban coup in 2021; and (ii) of the very existence of the injunction itself.’
Law Society's Gazette, 25th July 2025
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
UK jail escape trial reignites debate over indefinite sentences – The Guardian
‘The trial of an alleged escapee who spent hours on the roof of a high-security prison in his underpants is set to be the first time the stress caused by indeterminate sentences can be used as a legal defence.’
The Guardian, 28th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Rain of Dust – Law Pod UK
‘Death, deceit and the lawyer who busted big Asbestosis. Rosalind English talks to author David Kinley and lawyer Richard Meeram about an international legal drama involving a UK mining company and its South African employees, tackling questions of corporate veil, forum and causation in a huge class action.’
Law Pod UK, 28th July 2025
Source: audioboom.com
Two in five arrested for last summer’s UK riots had been reported for domestic abuse – The Guardian
‘Two out of every five people arrested after participating in last summer’s riots had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose.’
The Guardian, 26th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Court of Appeal hands down ruling on secret soundings in judicial appointments – Local Government Lawyer
‘A judge aggrieved at being denied promotion has had a partial victory in the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) in a challenge to secretive judicial appointment processes.’
Local Government Lawyer, 28th July 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
The Soneji principle and remedial discretion in judicial review – Administrative Court Blog
‘It is a familiar principle of public law, and perhaps more generally the law relating to breach of statutory requirements, that where there has been non-compliance with such requirements in taking a decision, a court will often ask whether Parliament can be taken to have intended total invalidity of that decision. Call this the “Soneji question”, from the eponymous case (at [23]). This principle has been applied in a variety of cases, including the line of case law relating to “collateral challenges” against decisions of public authorities (e.g. Majera), as well as private law disputes (e.g. A1 Properties).’
Administrative Court Blog, 26th July 2025
Survivors of coercive control are being criminalised in England, research finds – The Guardian
‘Survivors of coercive control are being unfairly criminalised in England and punished by a justice system that should be protecting them, research has found.’
The Guardian, 27th July 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Driver jailed after e-bike crash kills young mum – BBC News
‘A driver has been jailed after a “pursuit of anger” ended in the death of a young mother who was knocked off an electric bike on a narrow country lane.’
BBC News, 25th July 2025
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Justice Committee launches fresh inquiry into access to justice – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Justice Committee has launched a new inquiry into access to justice in England and Wales, examining the current state of the legal services and representation market, and how it, and associated operating pressures, affect access to justice.’
Local Government Lawyer, 24th July 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Legislative Comment: The Online Safety Act 2023 and the sending of threatening or false communications – Statute Law Review
‘Nothing has caused such legal conundrums for governments across the globe than the ‘harms’ associated with social media usage. Many of these ‘harms’ dominate news headlines, with the same cry, ‘there should be a law against that’. Governments have responded with ‘new’ legal provisions in a bid to make the online world a safer place, including the United Kingdom with the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023. This complex piece of legislation predominately regulates online platforms, including social media companies. However, Part 10 of the Act creates ‘new’ criminal offences in a bid to make the UK one of the safest places to go online. This article critically examines two of these ‘new’ offences: (1) threatening communications and (2) false communications, drawing firstly on why it was thought necessary to create such provisions, before turning to examine the actus reus and mens rea of both offences. The article provides an academic critique of each provision, highlighting the main flaws with each offence and why, with examples, the provisions will not overcome many of the issues previously raised against their predecessors, most notably s.1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and s.127(1) and (2) of the Communications Act 2003. The article suggests improvements which can be made to strengthen these ‘new’ offences.’
Statute Law Review, August 2025
Source: academic.oup.com
Article 11 in the Mirror: The Importance of Section 2 Human Rights Act 1998 in Understanding the Courts’ Approach to Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights – Industrial Law Journal
‘Most labour lawyers would agree that Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has had a limited impact on collective labour law in the UK. This article argues that an important factor explaining the domestic courts’ cautious approach in Article 11 cases is their treatment of the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Section 2 HRA requires courts to ‘take into account’ ECtHR decisions, a phrase which has been interpreted in leading cases such as Ullah and Elan-Cane to mean that the Strasbourg case-law should be treated as both a floor and a ceiling in terms of the protection to be afforded to Convention rights in domestic law. It is easy to overlook the significance of this case-law because it is rarely referred to by the domestic courts when deciding Article 11 claims. However, despite the lack of explicit judicial analysis, the Article 11 case-law is wholly orthodox in its application of the general approach to s. 2. As a result, the courts have limited capacity to ‘go beyond’ the Strasbourg case-law, decide issues where Strasbourg gives the state a margin of appreciation, or engage in anything other than incremental development. Understanding the role played by s. 2 helps to explain many of the disappointing outcomes we have seen. It also has important implications for the kinds of Article 11 cases that are worth pursuing and for the way in which they should be framed.’
Industrial Law Journal, 19th July 2025
Source: academic.oup.com
