Redeeming the irredeemable. Gas Safety Certificates and section 21 – Nearly Legal

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘This is a County Court appeal judgment, by Her Honour Melissa Clarke, on both the validity of a GSC and, most significantly, on the effect of there being no valid GSC at the commencement of the tenancy when the tenant first goes into occupation.’

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Nearly Legal, 19th October 2025

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk

Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘The Attorney General is one of the most powerful and influential officers in the British Constitution. They are the chief adviser of the Crown on points of law and the chief counsel for the government in legal proceedings. They also have an important role in the machinery of criminal law enforcement in England & Wales and a wide range of prerogative and statutory powers that they exercise in their capacity of guardian of the public interest.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 20th October 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘Vile’ online groomer is first in UK to be jailed for encouraging a child to self-harm – The Guardian

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘A “vile and sadistic” online groomer has been jailed for 20 years in a UK legal first for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl he encouraged to self-harm.’

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The Guardian, 20th October 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

Met Police says it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents – BBC News

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘The Metropolitan Police says it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents to allow officers to “focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations”.’

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BBC News, 20th October 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Mazur: Law Society advice amid probate and crime concerns – Legal Futures

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘Private client group STEP is to lobby the government to bring the Non-Contentious Probate Rules (NCPR) in line with the Legal Services Act 2007 in the wake of the Mazur ruling.’

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Legal Futures, 20th October 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

People, Not Past Mistakes: A Fairer Approach to Criminality in Immigration – Kingsley Napley Immigration Law Blog

Posted October 21st, 2025 in news by sally

‘Under the current UK immigration rules, if you have ever received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more, you will face a mandatory ban from the UK for life. This has been the position since December 2020 and has created a lot of challenges. While the rule has been in place for some time, with the roll out of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (‘ETA’) earlier this year, the problems this creates are showing themselves with increasing regularity. This is because the ETA specifically asks about historic criminality, something which most likely did not arise when non-visa nationals visited the UK before this.’

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Kingsley Napley Immigration Law Blog, 16th October 2025

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

Inquiry announced into Leeds NHS maternity failings – BBC News

Posted October 20th, 2025 in news by sally

‘An independent inquiry into “repeated failures” at an NHS trust’s maternity units has been announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, following potentially avoidable harm to babies and mothers.’

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BBC News, 20th October 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Revealed: The eye-watering cost of letting prisons crumble – The Independent

Posted October 20th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The ageing prison estate is in a dire condition after years of neglect, but the cost of outsourcing basic repairs is spiralling out of control, with shower upgrades in one prison set to cost taxpayers £7.8m.’

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The Independent, 19th October 2025

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Court of Appeal permits Palestine Action proscription challenge to proceed on two further grounds and dismisses Home Secretary’s alternative remedy argument – Administrative Court Blog

Posted October 20th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has dismissed the Home Secretary’s alternative remedy argument against the High Court’s grant of permission for Palestine Action’s judicial review challenge against proscription to proceed, and granted the claimant permission to rely on two further grounds at the final hearing listed for 25 November 2025. The Court held that the claimant’s cross-appeal was brought out of time (which is itself an important practice point), but granted an extension of time on the particular facts of the case.’

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Administrative Court Blog, 17th October 2025

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

Bereaved families call for inquiry into UK failure to act on pro-suicide forum – The Guardian

Posted October 20th, 2025 in news by sally

‘Bereaved families and survivors of a pro-suicide forum have called for a public inquiry into the government’s failure to prevent harm linked to the online platform.’

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The Guardian, 20th October 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

Teen jailed for sexually abusing 37 girls online – BBC News

Posted October 20th, 2025 in news by sally

‘A 19-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting sexually abusing 37 girls online.’

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BBC News, 17th October 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

BAILII: Recent Decisions

Posted October 17th, 2025 in law reports by michael

Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)

Al-Shumari, R. v [2025] EWCA Crim 1317 (16 October 2025)

High Court (Administrative Court)

Hynot Ltd, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero & Anor [2025] EWHC 2644 (Admin) (15 October 2025)

Friends of the Lake District v Lake District National Park Authority [2025] EWHC 2630 (Admin) (15 October 2025)

High Court (Chancery Division)

Credit Suisse Virtuoso Sicav-Sif & Anor v Softbank Group Corp & Ors [2025] EWHC 2631 (Ch) (15 October 2025)

Conway & Ors v Plass & Ors [2025] EWHC 2625 (Ch) (15 October 2025)

AirX Jet Support Ltd & Anor v London Jet Centre (Stanstead) Ltd & Anor [2025] EWHC 2628 (Ch) (14 October 2025)

Ellis v Ellis & Ors [2025] EWHC 2609 (Ch) (14 October 2025)

High Court (Commercial Court)

One Unique Llc v Babaee & Ors [2025] EWHC 2635 (Comm) (14 October 2025)

High Court (Family Division)

DC v DC [2025] EWHC 2572 (Fam) (09 October 2025)

AB and CD (Children) (No 3), Re (1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention: Set Aside) [2025] EWHC 2508 (Fam) (01 October 2025)

High Court (Patents Court)

Amazon.Com Inc & Ors v InterDigital VC Holdings, Inc & Ors [2025] EWHC 2600 (Pat) (09 October 2025)

High Court (King’s Bench Division)

Crea & Anor v Camp & Anor [2025] EWHC 2638 (KB) (15 October 2025)

Abbotsley Ltd & Anor v Pheasantland Ltd & Ors [2025] EWHC 2640 (KB) (13 October 2025)

Source: www.bailii.org

Koran burning conviction overturned: blasphemy law cannot be introduced via the back door – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘It will come to the surprise of many that the common law offence of blasphemy in the UK was only abolished in 2008. It has no place in a secular society such as ours. However attempts have been made to use the Public Order Act 1986 to introduce blasphemy by the back door, by criminalising religious hatred offences.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 17th October 2025

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Banks need stricter controls to prevent romance fraud, says City regulator – The Guardian

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The City regulator has called on banks and payment firms to bring in stricter controls protecting customers from romance fraud after a study showed a number of missed “red flags” that led to people losing huge sums of money.’

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The Guardian, 17th October 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

MoJ rejects MPs’ call for “root-and-branch review” of county courts – Legal Futures

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The government’s rejection of MPs’ call for an “urgent and comprehensive” review of the county court risks perpetuating a “dysfunctional” system, the justice select committee has warned.’

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Legal Futures, 17th October 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

New research shows domestic abuse issues ‘fall by the wayside’ in making decisions about children – Transparency Project

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales (DAC) this week published a report, Everyday Business: Addressing domestic abuse and continuing harm through a family court review and reporting mechanism by Mandy Burton and Rosemary Hunter, Loughborough University, on the DAC’s ‘monitoring mechanism’ of the way family courts deal with allegations of domestic abuse in cases about arrangements for children. The report’s title reflects the fact that domestic abuse is routinely a factor in child arrangements cases, in a system that was not designed and is not resourced to deal with this.’

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Transparency Project, 16th October 2025

Source: transparencyproject.org.uk

Mum guilty of murdering five-year-old son – BBC News

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘A woman has been found guilty of murdering her five-year-old son at their family home.’

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BBC News, 16th October 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Legal professions hit out at “dangerous” language used by politicians about lawyers and judges – Local Government Lawyer

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘Legal professional bodies representing 250,000 lawyers in the UK have issued a joint statement accusing politicians of “irresponsible and dangerous” language that they claim is putting lawyers at risk.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 16th October 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

No winners in the China espionage blame game: Six outstanding questions for prosecutors and ministers – Public Law for Everyone

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘Now-published government witness statements submitted to prosecutors in the China espionage case cast only limited light on what happened. In this post, I outline six key questions that remain to be answered by government ministers and the Crown Prosecution Service.’

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Public Law for Everyone, 16th October 2025

Source: publiclawforeveryone.com

Procedural rigour, promptness, and “protective issuing” in judicial review – Administrative Court Blog

Posted October 17th, 2025 in news by sally

‘The concept of protective issuing is familiar to litigation lawyers. It involves issuing a claim without any (or without any full) pleaded case when some aspect of the pre-action process has not yet been completed, most frequently when a proposed claim is coming up against a limitation deadline. It is perhaps of especial importance to public lawyers, given the judicial review longstop of 3 months means that any proposed claim comes up against limitation very quickly. An important point to note, which public lawyers will be well-aware of, is that the 3-month period is a longstop; the statutory requirement is to act promptly.’

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Administrative Court Blog, 16th October 2025

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com