New UK rules finalised on the re-use of public sector information – OUT-LAW.com

‘Public bodies in the UK must make it easier for businesses to re-use the information they hold from the middle of next month, under new regulations that have been passed by parliament.’
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OUT-LAW.com, 30th June 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Tribunal rejects request for correspondence between solicitor and planning officers – Local Government Lawyer

‘The First-Tier Tribunal has ruled that a district council was entitled to refuse to disclose correspondence passing between one of its solicitors and various members of its planning department.’
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Local Government Lawyer, 30th June 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Greville Janner case: Alison Saunders faces calls to publish secret papers – Daily Telegraph

‘Alleged child abuse victims and MPs say independent review of bungled case must be made public.’

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Daily Telegraph, 29th June 2015

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Supreme Court on EU and ECHR proportionality – back to basics – UK Human Rights Blog

‘The Supreme Court has reminded us, in a tour de force by Lord Reed, that there is no such thing as one-stop proportionality. It varies between ECHR and EU law, and the tests of EU proportionality then vary according to the nature of the EU issue in play.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 27th June 2015

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

The Lord Janner U-turn is the CPS’s own fault – The Guardian

‘Between the independent reviewer and the DPP there’s no disagreement on facts, but ultimately it’s highly unlikely Janner will appear in court.’

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The Guardian, 29th June 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Lord Janner: DPP Alison Saunders was wrong not to bring charges against peer, lawyer rules – The Independent

‘Accusations that Greville Janner, the former Labour MP, sexually abused a number of children are to be tested in court after an independent lawyer ruled the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was wrong not to bring charges.’

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The Independent, 28th June 2015

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Freddie Starr sues over grope claim – BBC News

Posted June 16th, 2015 in damages, defamation, news, public interest by sally

‘Comedian Freddie Starr is claiming damages from a woman who says he groped her when she was 15.’

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BBC News, 15th June 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Belmarsh prison officer guilty of being paid mole for reporter – The Guardian

‘A prison officer at Belmarsh high-security prison has been found guilty of being the paid mole of a reporter working at the Daily Mirror and News of the World over five years.’

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The Guardian, 1st June 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Is crowdfunded litigation the future of justice? – The Guardian

Posted May 26th, 2015 in costs, dispute resolution, internet, news, public interest, third parties by sally

‘With legal aid in crisis, CrowdJustice selects public interest cases and invites the public to fund them. But it faces many obstacles to enacting real change.’

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The Guardian, 25th May 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Stacey Hyde cleared of murder in retrial – The Guardian

‘A young woman who faced a retrial for the murder of man with a history of domestic violence has been acquitted after a jury heard how she acted in self-defence. Stacey Hyde, 22, was ordered to face a second trial by the director of public prosecutions, Alison Saunders, after the court of appeal quashed her original murder conviction last year.’

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The Guardian, 21st May 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Syrian asylum seekers successfully appeal UK convictions – BBC News

‘Two Syrian asylum seekers who were jailed for arriving in the UK without passports, have successfully appealed against their convictions.’

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BBC News, 7th May 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Judge grants Operation Elveden police access to press phone records – BBC News

Posted May 6th, 2015 in corruption, news, police, public interest, telecommunications by sally

‘A judge has granted police permission to access journalists’ phone records for the first time in a public hearing.
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BBC News, 5th May 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Critics of Lord Janner decision misunderstand justice system – The Guardian

‘The creation of the Crown Prosecution Service nearly 30 years ago was pretty traumatic for the police. I remember it well and wrote a book about it at the time. Overnight, detectives lost the power to decide what charges should be brought against people they had arrested. Instead, the director of public prosecutions — whose remit had been confined to cases of “importance or difficulty” for the previous 100 years — took responsibility in 1986 for most public prosecutions across England and Wales.’

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The Guardian, 22nd April 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Journalists should not always be prosecuted for paying public officials, says former CPS head – The Indpendent

‘The former head of the Crown Prosecution Service has said it can be “appropriate” for journalists to pay officials for information and that Operation Elveden had overlooked the public interest.’

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The Independent, 18th April 2015

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Crown Prosecution Service re-review of Operation Elveden – CPS News Brief

‘Operation Elveden is a Metropolitan Police Service investigation that revealed the payments made to corrupt public officials by journalists for information. It followed two parliamentary committees and the Leveson Inquiry which revealed serious questions over the techniques used by some which may have amounted to systematic and flagrant breaches of the law. The range and circumstance of this activity was of a scale not previously encountered by police or CPS.’

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CPS News Brief, 17th April 2015

Source: http://blog.cps.gov.uk

Three years, £20 million, one conviction: Operation Elveden on brink of collapse – Daily Telegraph

‘Operation Elveden, the long running investigation into allegations of corruption by tabloid journalists, lies in tatters after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was forced to scrap most of the outstanding cases. ‘

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Daily Telegraph, 17th April 2015

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

TV ‘exposure’ of Scientology halted by UK libel law split – The Guardian

‘Plans to broadcast HBO’s Church of Scientology exposé, Going Clear, have been shelved by Sky Atlantic in a virtual repeat of events two years ago, when UK publishers abandoned publication of the book on which the hard-hitting new TV documentary is based.’

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The Guardian, 18th April 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Law firms exploiting EU ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling to help individuals remove awkward newspaper articles from Google – The Independent

Posted April 20th, 2015 in EC law, freedom of information, internet, law firms, media, news, public interest by sally

‘Ambulance-chasing law firms are using the European Court’s ruling on the “right to be forgotten” to drum up business, leading to a rise in the number of newspaper articles being deleted from Google search results.’

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The Independent, 17th April 2015

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Whistleblowing ‘public interest’ test can cover internal matters in some circumstances, says UK’s EAT – OUT-LAW.com

‘Matters covered by someone who ‘blows the whistle’ on suspected bad practices at their employer need not necessarily be “of interest to the public” to benefit from stricter rules governing whistleblower protection, the UK’s Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 13th April 2015

Source: www.out-law.com

Why we should see Andrew Lansley’s diary in the run up to 2011 NHS reforms – UK Human Rights Blog

‘Department of Health v. Information Commissioner et al [2015] UKUT 159, 30 March 2015, Charles J read judgment Simon Lewis requested that the Department of Health supply him with copies of the ministerial diary of Andrew Lansley from May 2010 until April 2011, via a Freedom of Information request. Mr Lewis’s interest in all this is not revealed in the judgment, but I dare say included seeing whether the Minister was being lobbied by private companies eager to muscle in on the NHS in this critical period. But such is the nature of FOIA litigation that it does not really look at the motive of the requester – and this case does not tell us what the diary showed. Indeed by the time of this appeal, Lewis was untraceable, and the burden of the argument in favour of disclosure was taken up by the Information Commissioner.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 10th April 2015

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com