“The computer hacker Gary McKinnon has been given one last chance to convince the Home Secretary he is not fit to be extradited to face trial in America.”
Daily Telegraph, 5th July 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“People who are detained under the Mental Health Act, or subject to a community treatment order (CTO) have a legal right to access someone who can stand alongside them and help them speak up; an independent mental health advocate (IMHA).”
The Guardian, 4th July 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Jamie Petrolini’s conviction for the 1994 murder of Mohamed el-Sayed overturned on grounds of diminished responsibility.”
The Guardian, 27th June 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The suicide last year of a senior local authority solicitor who felt unable to cope with the demands placed on him following a 30% cut to his department’s budget shocked the profession.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 21st June 2012
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“Mr Justice Jackson has ruled that it would be lawful and in the best interests of a 32 year old woman (referred to in the judgment as ‘E’) for her to be fed, using physical force or chemical sedation as necessary, for a period of ‘not less than a year’.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 19th June 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“The judge in this challenging case eventually relied on intuition. In such a dilemma, can law or ethics ever yield a single right answer?”
The Guardian, 19th JUne 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A High Court judge has ruled that it is in the best interests of a woman who suffers from anorexia to be fed against her wishes.”
Daily Telegraph, 15th June 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Laws barring people who have had severe mental health problems from jury service and from being MPs or company directors are to be abolished following an extraordinary debate in which several MPs gave moving accounts of their own experiences of the illnesses.”
The Guardian, 14th June 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A young film actor chosen from a jobcentre to play the role of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights has been given a conditional discharge for the racially aggravated harassment of his partner and mother of their young daughter.”
The Guardian, 28th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A man who contaminated painkillers with powerful anti-psychotic drugs has been jailed for 18 months.”
BBC News, 28th May 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A council in Devon has agreed to compensate a ‘suicidal’ man after its actions resulted in him going bankrupt.”
BBC News, 17th May 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A private care home was criticised by a judge today as he sentenced a mentally ill resident to life for killing an innocent schoolboy.”
The Independent, 16th May 2012
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A man undergoing psychiatric care who almost murdered a tourist outside York Minster by hitting him repeatedly with a cobblestone has been jailed for a minimum of four and a half years.”
The Guardian, 14th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Mental Capacity Act 2005 contains detailed provision for advance decisions – otherwise known as advance directives: see ss 24, 25 and 26. These are statements made by a person when capacitous, which may apply when the person loses capacity. If they are ‘valid and applicable’ they have the same effect as if made by that person capacitously. A competent patient has the right to refuse even life-sustaining treatment.”
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 9th May 2012
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
“The concept of ‘fitness to plead’ is often a source of confusion. It is not solely a consideration of whether the defendant is actually capable of being arraigned on the indictment. The question to be addressed is whether a defendant is fit to enter a plea and stand trial. A person may have sufficient capacity to deny the allegation that is made and yet be unable to undergo the entire trial process. The defence should not overlook the possible benefits, where properly available, to a defendant of a finding of unfitness to plead. Where the issue of fitness to plead is raised it must be determined by a Judge. The defendant ought not to be arraigned before this issue is determined. If a defendant is found unfit to plead there is a further hearing before a jury to determine whether or not he did the act or acts alleged. If unsure, the defendant will be acquitted and so he will have the advantage of challenging the Crown’s evidence. If the finding is adverse to the defendant then the Judge has the power to make a hospital order (with or without restriction), a supervision order or an absolute discharge. The defendant can be diverted from the prison system in this way.”
One Inner Temple Lane, 1st May 2012
Source: www.1itl.com
“Judgment in MS v UK from European court leaves publicly funded authorities threatened with litigation from all sides.”
The Guardian, 3rd May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A violent mentally ill man who was kept in a police cell for more than three days without medical treatment suffered ‘inhuman or degrading treatment’, European human rights judges have ruled.”
Daily Telegraph, 3rd May 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
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