Operation Elveden: Court quashes reporter’s conviction – BBC News
‘An ex-News of the World reporter who was found guilty of paying a prison officer for information has had their conviction quashed.’
BBC News, 27th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: juries
Justice body needs ‘bolder approach’ say MPs – BBC News
‘A public body that reviews miscarriages of justice should be “bolder” and refer more cases to the Court of Appeal, a group of MPs has said.’
BBC News, 25th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Regina v Akhtar (Itzaz) – WLR Daily
Regina v Akhtar (Itzaz) [2015] EWCA Crim 176; [2015] WLR (D) 91
‘Where a jury brought in a guilty verdict on one count but were unable to agree on another count, a retrial on that other count was not an abuse of process unless the two counts were true alternatives in that they were mutually exclusive alternatives.’
WLR Daily, 26th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina v Gurpinar; Regina v Kojo-Smith and another – WLR Daily
Regina v Gurpinar; Regina v Kojo-Smith and another [2015] EWCA Crim 178; [2015] WLR (D) 80
Where a defendant was charged with murder and the issue arose as to whether the partial defence of loss of self-control should be left to the jury the trial judge had to undertake a much more rigorous evaluation of the evidence before that defence could be left to the jury than had been required under the former law of provocation.
WLR Daily, 20th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Old Bailey jury ordered not to watch BBC documentary on royals – The Guardian
‘The jury in a trial at the Old Bailey have been ordered not to watch a BBC documentary on the royal family’s relations with the media amid concerns it could prejudice a fair trial of the Sun’s royal editor.’
The Guardian, 19th February 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Angel of Death’ murders: Juror’s doubt over guilty verdict – Daily Telegraph
‘Paul Moffitt is the second juror to cast doubt on the 2008 conviction of the nurse Colin Norris for killing four elderly hospital patients.’
Daily Telegraph, 28th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Sir Brian Leveson’s Review of Efficiency in Criminal Proceedings published: Media Release – Judiciary of England and Wales
‘Sir Brian Leveson, The President of the Queen’s Bench Division publishes his review into efficiency in criminal proceedings today (Friday) with a wide ranging set of recommendations. He was asked by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas to find ways to make criminal justice more efficient and streamlined.’
Judiciary of England and Wales, 23rd January 2015
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
Alice Gross – joint statement from the CPS and the Metropolitan Police – Crown Prosecution Service
‘At the end of the investigation into the disappearance and death of Alice Gross, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) submitted a report to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). That report proposed that Arnis Zalkalns was responsible for her abduction and murder.’
Corwn Prosecution Service, 27th January 2015
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Inefficient court system should be streamlined, Leveson says – BBC News
‘A senior judge has set out plans to “streamline” the “inefficient, time consuming and… very expensive” justice system in England and Wales.’
BBC News, 23rd January 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Juror in trial of Sun journalists discharged due to ‘pressure and stress’ – The Guardian
‘A juror in the trial of four Sun journalists has been discharged from his duties because of the “pressure and stress” of deliberations.’
The Guardian, 21st January 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Jimmy Mubenga: Judge refused to allow jury to hear about guards’ racist texts – The Guardian
‘An Old Bailey judge refused to allow a jury to hear about dozens of “grossly offensive and undoubtedly racist” text messages on the phones of two of the G4S security guards acquitted of killing Jimmy Mubenga because they did not have “any real relevance” to the trial.’
The Guardian, 17th December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Judge criticises National Crime Agency over collapse of fraud trial – The Guardian
‘The National Crime Agency has been labelled “incompetent” by an Old Bailey judge after a series of blunders led to the collapse of a £5m trial.’
The Guardian, 2nd December 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Secretive terror trial to be re-run after jury is discharged – The Guardian
‘The highly secretive trial of a man accused of plotting a terrorist attack in London is to be re-run after an Old Bailey jury was discharged. Erol Incedal, 26, is expected to appear in court for a second time next year. He had pleaded not guilty to a charge, brought under the Terrorism Act 2006, that he intended to commit acts of terrorism or assist another to commit them between 1 February 2012 and 14 October last year.’
The Guardian, 11th November 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Government on Trial – BBC Law in Action
‘The Appeal Court has allowed a Libyan man to proceed with legal action against the British government, despite the government’s claim that the case could damage relations with the United States. Joshua Rozenberg discusses the implications.’
BBC Law in Action, 4th November 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Are juries being blinded by science? – The Guardian
‘Expert witnesses are being subjected to greater scrutiny by the criminal courts, despite the government’s refusal to implement safeguards recommended by its own law reform advisers.’
The Guardian, 15th October 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Sun reporter Vince Soodin faces police payment retrial – BBC News
‘The jury in the trial of a Sun reporter accused of paying a police officer for a tip-off has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict.’
BBC News, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Ian Cram: Penalising the googling juror? – Reflections on the futility of Part 3 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill (2013-14) – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘The hotchpotch of measures that comprises the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill is about to reach Report Stage in the House of Lords. The Bill sets out a panoply of new and controversial measures to deal with dangerous offenders, young offenders, drugs-testing in prisons, wilful neglect or ill-treatment by care workers, reforms to criminal proceedings (including the use of cautions), the possession of extreme pornographic images, civil proceedings involving judicial review (B. Jaffey & T. Hickman), personal injury cases and challenges to planning decisions. The adequacy of this miscellaneous approach to law reform will doubtless come under the fuller scrutiny that it deserves elsewhere. This blog takes as its focus provisions in Part 3 of the Bill which seeks to put on a statutory footing offences connected with private research by jurors. I suggest that resort to the criminal law constitutes a clumsy, impractical and unnecessarily punitive attempt to regulate the extra-curial activities of the modern, online juror. It is incumbent on our lawmakers to explore more imaginative responses to the undoubted problem of jurors’ access to untested, internet materials – responses that might be more obviously premised upon an appreciation of jurors’ dutiful efforts to arrive at just verdicts.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 2nd October 2014
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog
Criminals could appeal after Home Office admits potentially misleading DNA evidence presented to juries – Daily Telegraph
‘Forensic expert Peter Gill, who raised the issue with the Home Office in April said the recognition that subjective interpretations of DNA evidence were potentially biased and unscientific and could lead to a number of appeals.’
Daily Telegraph, 23rd September 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Yeo v Times Newspapers Ltd – WLR Daily
Yeo v Times Newspapers Ltd: [2014] EWHC 2853 (QB); [2014] WLR (D) 383
‘Since all factual issues in a libel action were for the eventual substantive tribunal it was inappropriate that the outcome of a preliminary application for trial by jury in such an action should be informed by a decision as to whether the case was about factual allegations or about value judgments.’
WLR Daily, 20th August 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
