‘The reach of the Defective Premises Act and what ‘defective’ means within the context of the Act, was the subject of detailed consideration in the QBD recently, in Dodd v Raebarn Estates [2016].’
Hardwicke Chambers, 8th March 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Sensitive details held by police and prosecutors in England are being lost because evidence is still being shared on computer discs, watchdogs say.’
BBC News, 13th April 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Easy-to-understand guides on scientific evidence could be introduced in courts as part of joint efforts to explore common interests between lawyers and scientists.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 12th April 2016
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Two men who served long sentences before their convictions were overturned have lost the latest round of their legal fight for compensation.’
BBC News, 11th April 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Farooq Ahmed, barrister of Westgate Chambers and recorder, addresses the legal issues arising when parents embroiled in children proceedings record conversations or events.’
Family Law Week, 8th April 2016
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘The number and proportion of prosecutions dropped at Crown Courts in England and Wales has risen to its highest level in five years. More than 12,600 cases were discontinued from 2014 to 2015 – one in every eight Crown Court cases. At the same time, the proportion of Crown Court cases resulting in a conviction fell below the 80% mark for the first time since 2010-11.’
BBC News, 11th April 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) has held that the use of telephone recordings as evidence in a criminal trial, despite the inability of the accused to challenge the caller, did not violate his rights under Article 6, ECHR. This judgment follows a number of Grand Chamber judgments on similar issues that have altered the ECtHR’s stance on the subject of absent witness evidence.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 4th April 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Police have accused a multiple murderer of “circumnavigating the formal process” of appeal by using the media and websites to fight his conviction.’
BBC News, 2nd April 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The UK was right not to charge any police officers over the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, an electrician who they thought was a suicide bomber, in 2005.’
The Independent, 30th March 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Regina v Nguyen, Attorney General’s Reference No 79 of 2015
‘The defendant pleaded guilty to attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and to having an offensive weapon contrary to section 1(1) of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. He was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment and 12 months’ imprisonment respectively. The Attorney General applied to the Court of Appeal under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 for leave to refer the sentence as unduly lenient. At the same time the prosecution applied to the Crown Court under the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 for the sentence to be varied on the grounds that new material showed that, contrary to the way in which the case had been presented at the sentencing hearing, the complainant had been specifically targeted by the defendant. The time limit for making a variation order was subsequently extended by a Crown Court judge, and a variation order was later made by the sentencing judge. The defendant appealed against the varied sentence. On the hearing in the Court of Appeal it was common ground that there was no power to extend the time limit for the making of a variation order, so that the variation order had been invalid.’
WLR Daily, 23rd March 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘A court case that would have tested the right of sex workers to offer services together in brothels to protect themselves has collapsed after a police officer refused to give evidence.’
The Guardian, 29th March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Home Secretary Theresa May allegedly wrongly deported up to 50,000 international students after an English test cheating scam at one school was used to incriminate all who had sat the test.’
The Independent, 29th March 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The police investigation into the plane crash at the Shoreham Airshow – which killed 11 people – is being delayed as detectives are being forced to seek permission from the courts to gain access to key information from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), a pre-inquest review has heard.’
Daily Telegraph, 22nd March 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Footballer’s case referred to Court of Appeal in London by Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.’
Daily Telegraph, 22nd March 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Police have been accused of concealing the involvement of two undercover officers in a long-running legal case from judges in the UK’s highest court.’
The Guardian, 21st March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘In January 2016 the Prime Minister invited David Lammy MP to find out why official figures show that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups appear to be over-represented at most stages of the criminal justice system, and what can be done about it. This is an independent review. It aims to make sure that everyone is treated equally, whatever their ethnicity.’
Ministry of Justice, 21st March 2016
Source: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
‘A father who was identified by a high court judge as having probably sexually assaulted his baby daughter shortly before she died may be allowed to give evidence from a secret location after facing daily intimidation, a pre-inquest hearing has heard.’
The Guardian, 18th March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Scotland Yard has dropped its investigation into electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets after finding “insufficient evidence that criminal offences had been committed”. Detectives launched the probe after Lutfur Rahman, the borough’s former mayor, was found guilty of corrupt and illegal practices by a judge following a High Court hearing.’
Daily Telegraph, 17th March 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Shaken baby syndrome is back in the news. Monday’s BBC Panorama programme focused on this most contentious of subjects and was itself prompted by the General Medical Council’s prosecution of Dr Waney Squier, a consultant neuropathologist who used to give evidence against those charged with injuring their baby but now provides expert evidence in their defence. On Friday she was found guilty by the GMC of giving “expert opinion evidence outside your field of expertise” in several cases that came before the criminal or family courts, and could be struck off the medical register as a result.’
The Guardian, 15th March 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Alan Ramsay Sales & Marketing Ltd v Typhoo Tea Ltd [2016] EWHC 486 (Comm)
‘The claimant was a commercial agent who acted for the defendant. The agency agreement between the parties provided for 12 months’ notice of termination. The claimant’s case was that, by e-mails dated 18 and 26 March 2013, the defendant gave notice of termination with effect from 11 February 2013, to terminate on 11 May 2013 and was thereby in repudiatory breach of contract, which repudiation the claimant accepted as bringing the agency agreement to an end. The claimant brought a claim for, inter alia, damages for termination with insufficient notice and sought to admit the defendant’s e-mails as evidence of the defendant’s repudiation. The defendant contended that the two e-mails, both marked “Without Prejudice”, were part of a series of without prejudice negotiations to settle a dispute as to termination of the agency and that, as such, they could not be relied on by the claimant as repudiatory and were inadmissible in evidence.’
WLR Daily, 8th March 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
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