Drug smuggler Lindsay Sandiford takes death penalty case to UK supreme court – The Guardian

‘A British grandmother facing execution by firing squad in Indonesia for drug smuggling has no funds to mount a legal challenge against her sentence, the UK’s highest court has been told.’

Full story

The Guardian, 4th June 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Ramdeen v State of Trinidad and Tobago – WLR Daily

Ramdeen v State of Trinidad and Tobago: [2014] UKPC 7; [2014] WLR (D) 149

‘Once the Privy Council was seised of a death sentence case, whether by way of an appeal against conviction and/or an appeal against sentence, it had jurisdiction to deal with commutation of sentence, at least where the ground for commutation arose out of court procedures or decisions.’

WLR Daily, 27th March 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Ramdeen (Appellant) v The State (Respondent) – Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Posted April 2nd, 2014 in appeals, death penalty, jurisdiction, law reports, murder, Privy Council by sally

Ramdeen (Appellant) v The State (Respondent) [2014] UKPC 7 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 27th March 2014

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Is complicity with the death penalty illegal? – UK Human Rights Blog

“In a previous blog post on these pages, the case of Lindsay Sandiford was examined. Sandiford – a British citizen facing the death penalty in Indonesia – had asked the UK Government for funding to help her appeal, but was refused financial help. The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Government, stating that the decision to provide legal aid to a British citizen abroad is a discretionary matter for the executive.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 17th July 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Death Penalty Legal Funding Refusal: Appeal Court Confirms Limits of Human Rights Act – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted May 30th, 2013 in appeals, death penalty, foreign jurisdictions, human rights, legal aid, news by sally

“On 22 April 2013 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in refusing to pay for a lawyer to assist Lindsay Sandiford as she faces the death penalty for drug offences in Indonesia. Last Wednesday, they handed down the reasons for their decision.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 29th May 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Regina (Sandiford) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – WLR Daily

Regina (Sandiford) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2013] EWCA Civ 581; [2013] WLR (D) 201

“The policy of the Foreign Secretary to refuse to provide funding for legal representation to United Kingdom nationals who were facing the death penalty abroad was lawful.”

WLR Daily, 22nd May 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Briton Lindsay Sandiford challenges government refusal to fund appeal against Bali drug smuggling death sentence – The Independent

“Lawyers for British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford today launched an urgent new legal challenge over a UK Government refusal to fund her appeal against a death sentence imposed by an Indonesian court after she was found guilty of drug smuggling.”

Full story

The Independent, 22nd April 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

International legal aid: private conscience and public duty – LegalVoice

“Lindsay Sandiford, the British woman sentenced to death for smuggling just under five kilos of cocaine into Bali, has obtained sufficient funds to appeal, writes Roger Smith.”

Full story

LegalVoice, 12th February 2013

Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk

No cash from the UK to avoid Indonesian firing squad – UK Human Rights Blog

“In this highly publicised case, the Administrative Court has come up with some firm criteria for the scope of the Convention’s protective reach for UK citizens abroad. The judgment is also something of a body blow for those who are looking to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms for a wider human rights umbrella.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 8th February 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Bali drugs: UK government accused of breaching Lindsay Sandiford’s rights – The Guardian

“The government’s failure to provide an ‘adequate’ lawyer to represent a British woman sentenced to death in Indonesia for drug smuggling is a breach of her rights, the high court has been told.”

Full story

The Guardian, 31st January 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Clive Stafford Smith: ‘The jury system in this country is utter insanity’ – The Guardian

Posted July 9th, 2012 in criminal justice, death penalty, juries, mental health, news, victims by sally

“The lawyer and founder of Reprieve on defending clients on death row, why the whole justice system is flawed – and his fear of appearing sanctimonious.”

Full story

The Guardian, 8th July 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Last man sentenced to death in UK has conviction quashed – The Guardian

“The last man to be sentenced to death in the UK has had his conviction quashed after a court heard that he confessed to the crime after being waterboarded and subjected to death threats. His successful appeal comes 39 years after his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.”

Full story

The Guardian, 21st June 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

#WithoutPrejudice 12: Riots, sentencing appeals – Troy Davis execution – Legal Aid cutbacks and Clause 12 – Charon QC

“Criminal Law Special: Sentencing in the wake of the riots and the forthcoming appeals, Contempt of Court, Troy Davis execution, Legal Aid and Clause 12 re-visited.”

Podcast

Charon QC, 30th September 2011

Source: www.charonqc.wordpress.com

“Charon QC” is the blogging pseudonym of Mike Semple Piggot, editor of insitelaw newswire.

Death penalty could be debated in Commons after e-petition calls – The Guardian

Posted August 4th, 2011 in death penalty, news by sally

“MPs must not shy away from debating capital punishment if a groundswell of voters backs a petition demanding it be returned to the statute books, the Commons leader has said.”

Full story

The Guardian, 4th August 2011

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tido v The Queen – WLR Daily

Posted June 20th, 2011 in admissibility, death penalty, evidence, identification, law reports, murder by sally

Tido v The Queen [2011] UKPC 16; [2011] WLR (D) 199

“A dock identification of a defendant was not inadmissible evidence per se. Nor was the admission of such evidence to be regarded as permissible in only the most exceptional circumstances.”

WLR Daily, 15th June 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Please note that once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Miguel v State of Trinidad and Tobago – WLR Daily

Miguel v State of Trinidad and Tobago [2011] UKPC 14; [2011] WLR (D) 198

“A constitutional provision which exempted both existing laws and enactments which altered existing laws from its protection did not extend to an enactment which altered a law that had existed before the Constitution came into force but had since been abolished. It followed that a mandatory sentence of death for a murder conviction in Trinidad and Tobago under the ‘arrestable offence murder’ rule in section 2A of the Criminal Law Act, based on an earlier-abolished ‘felony murder’ rule, was outside the exemption and so unconstitutional.”

WLR Daily, 15th June 2011

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Please note that once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

West Indian death row prisoners to be defended by British lawyers – The Guardian

Posted June 13th, 2011 in appeals, constitutional law, death penalty, news, Privy Council by tracey

“The fate of six West Indian prisoners on death row will be decided through the adjudication of the privy council this summer amid fresh pressure from the Caribbean to limit the UK’s role in determining capital punishment cases.”

Full story

The Guardian, 12th June 2011

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Death row drug faces restrictions from UK – BBC News

Posted November 29th, 2010 in death penalty, medicines, news by sally

“Business Secretary Vince Cable has restricted the export of a drug used to execute prisoners in the United States.”

Full story

BBC News, 29th November 2010

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Legal bid to stop export of ‘execution drug’ – The Independent

Posted November 2nd, 2010 in customs and excise, death penalty, medicines, news by sally

“Campaigners launched legal action today in an attempt to ban the export from Britain of an anaesthetic used to execute prisoners in the United States.”

Full story

The Independent, 2nd November 2010

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Mentally ill Briton faces execution for smuggling heroin into China – The Guardian

Posted October 12th, 2009 in China, death penalty, drug offences, mental health, news by sally

“Lawyers warn that Akmal Shaikh, 53, who has delusional psychosis, could be shot dead in jail after reports that his second appeal has failed.”

Full story

The Guardian, 11th October 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk