Category: Latest News

What is good character? As far as the criminal courts are concerned, a person of good character is usually someone without convictions or cautions recorded against them. It is of particular relevance in a trial situation as the court will consider good character in assessing the likelihood of you committing the offence and also your… Continue reading Good Character as Mitigation

The government recently announced a range of proposals regarding immigration, but how does this affect criminal law? Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said it was the introduction of the most significant overhaul of the system in decades. The aim appears to be to prevent illegal entry into the UK, especially when people smugglers or trafficking… Continue reading New Proposals

What is bite mark evidence? A bite mark is a pattern produced by the indentations of the teeth into any substance capable of being marked.  It is argued that a bite mark can be thought of as a tool mark and that they are unique to the individual, like a fingerprint. The way a bite… Continue reading Bite Mark Evidence – Part One

The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred several cases to the Court of Appeal, which involved allegations of public order related to trade union activity. They included the case of the actor Ricky Tomlinson who had been convicted in 1973 of conspiracy to intimidate, unlawful assembly and affray and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.  There was… Continue reading Non-Disclosure and Prejudice

Ofsted has announced a review into sexual abuse in schools. The review will consider the processes that schools, and colleges have in place regarding whether they are good enough to allow pupils to report abuse freely.  Why conduct a review? A website, “Everyone’s Invited”, published anonymised accounts of sexual abuse – many of the reports… Continue reading Sexual Abuse in Schools

During the Covid pandemic, there have been significant limits and halts to prison visits. Once we are out of lockdown, there should be a gradual return to standard visits, so what happens and what are the rules? The Prison Rules, in particular Rule 35, set out the entitlements to visits for prisoners. A prisoner is… Continue reading Prison Visits

Every prisoner is given a security category. For female prisoners, there are only two options, closed or open condition. For male prisoners, there are four categories, A to D. What do the categories mean? Female prisoners:  Closed conditions are for female prisoners who present too high a risk for open conditions; these are for those… Continue reading Prison Categorisation

The death of PC Harper has been in the news again recently. He died after he was dragged behind a car that was fleeing from the scene of a theft.  Unusually, at the same time that the Attorney General applied for leave to refer all three sentences as being unduly lenient, the three accused applied… Continue reading Manslaughter and the ‘PC Harper Case’

A number of the definitive guidelines published by the Sentencing Council direct sentencers to consider whether the victim of an offence has suffered severe psychological harm.  In some guidelines, that question has to be considered at step 1 of the sentencing process: a finding of severe psychological harm places the case into a higher category… Continue reading Sentencing And The Issue of ‘Psychological Harm’