Category: Latest News

For the first time, prisons beyond the high-security estate will use new, improved machines to check baggage brought in by the thousands of staff and visitors who enter and exit prisons daily. To date, these machines have stopped huge hauls of illegal contraband from getting into prisons, with recent finds including: 99 sheets of ‘spice’… Continue reading 44 More Prisons to Get Enhanced Security Scanners

The Single Justice Procedure (“SJP”) is designed to enable magistrates’ courts to deal with minor offences more efficiently, while still ensuring rigorous, open and fair justice. Whether those aims are in fact met is the subject of some intense debate, with a number of high-profile journalists consistently exposing weaknesses in the system. 535,000 cases were… Continue reading Further Expansion of the Single Justice Procedure

It is standard for people to share a Netflix account (the same is true of other sharing services). In many instances, it is perfectly proper to do so when those persons are all part of the same household. But sharing password access with relatives and friends further afield has always been something widely acknowledged and… Continue reading Will Password Sharing Land You in the Dock?

Aggravated Trespass is an offence under section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. It can only be tried in the magistrates’ court and carries a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment. A person commits the offence of aggravated trespass if he trespasses on land in the open air and, in relation… Continue reading Aggravated Trespass

It’s funny how things change as the years pass by. Perhaps only ten years ago, if we were thinking about particular spikes in alleged criminal offending over the Christmas period, the one that would jump out would always be drunk driving.  These days it is common to come across drug driving due to advances in… Continue reading Excess….As Night Follows Day

The old rule was that once a jury had retired to consider its verdict, no further evidence could be adduced.  The rule was stated in these terms: “… The jury may not when they have once retired to consider their verdict be given any additional evidence, any additional matter or material to assist them. They… Continue reading Jury in Retirement – Is Further Evidence Permissible?

Public sexual harassment (‘PSH’) will be made a specific offence through government-backed legislation. It is believed that creating an offence would contribute to cultural change and send a clear message that this behaviour is unacceptable. PSH can, when it happens, lead to adverse emotional effects on the victims, including impacts on their mental health. It… Continue reading Government Supports a New Public Sexual Harassment Offence

What impact might the serious ill health of counsel have on the safety of a conviction? The Appellant asked the Court of Appeal to resolve this question, which had been formulated in these terms: “Where after a trial in which the defendant was convicted it becomes known that defence counsel was suffering from a serious… Continue reading Health of Counsel as A Ground of Appeal

The Ministry of Justice has announced emergency measures that will see some people who ought to be in prison instead placed in police cells. The capacity pressure is specific to the adult male estate, and there is ample capacity in the women’s and youth estates. There are currently about 83,000 people in prison At the… Continue reading Police Cells For Prisoners

It is now commonplace for us to be asked to deal with cases where a person is accused of a crime, most commonly of a sexual nature, which is said to have occurred many decades earlier. Not surprisingly, those accused will wonder how they can be expected to properly defend themselves after such a passage… Continue reading Delay & Alleged Historic Offending