News & Advice

There are several types of criminal appeals.   Appeals against conviction or sentence Cases start in the Magistrates Court. If you want to appeal against a conviction or sentence in that Court, you can appeal to the Crown Court. If you are dealt with in the Crown Court and want to appeal against a conviction or… Continue reading Appeals

Speeding is one of the most common road traffic offences committed on UK roads, and it can have fatal consequences. Nobody is ever in that much of a rush to justify breaking the set national speed limits and put their, and other lives, in danger; it’s really not worth the consequences.   Driving at speed… Continue reading Road Traffic Offences During Lockdown

The world feels like a very difficult and surreal place to be in right now. With all the changes that are happening across the world, and indeed within this country in the last two weeks, there is some guidance available on how to keep things normal and regular from your family.    The UK government… Continue reading Coronavirus and Child Arrangements

On Wednesday 25th March 2020, the Coronavirus Bill completed all its parliamentary stages, and Royal Assent was signified, bringing in to force an unprecedented piece of emergency legislation. The purpose of the Coronavirus Act is to enable the Government to respond to an emergency situation and manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.    A severe… Continue reading Emergency Laws Now in Force

A defendant has the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. In exceptional cases, a delay will lead to a stay of proceedings as an abuse of process. A stay of proceedings is an extremely rare outcome, with the Court of Appeal making the following observation in R v PS [2013] EWCA Crim… Continue reading Trial Delays

As the UK prepares to move into the ‘delay phase’, changes are expected to criminal justice procedure. So, what might be expected to change?   Criminal Investigations   In the event of any public disorder, work on low priority criminal investigations may slow or stall entirely as police resources are diverted elsewhere. Most police custody… Continue reading Criminal Justice and Coronavirus

Circumstantial evidence is widely misunderstood, and many people cannot understand how a case can be advanced without primary evidence of wrongdoing. To illustrate this, we can use two examples relating to burglary. Burglary can be committed in quite a few different ways, but the most common allegation is that a person entered a building as… Continue reading Circumstantial Evidence

Many professionals are held by their regulators to a higher standard than other members of the public. Conduct which may fall well short of being criminal in nature may nonetheless excite the interest of a regulator, with the potential for censure. In the most recent case of Diggins v Bar Standards Board [2020] EWHC 467… Continue reading Social Media – A Dangerous Place for Professionals?

The Forensic Science Regulator regulates forensic scientists in England and Wales. The Regulator ensures that the provision of forensic science evidence across the criminal justice system is subject to appropriate standards. The Regulator has recently said that there are gaps in quality that need to be resolved. In its annual report, it was said that… Continue reading Forensic Evidence

If you ask most people how many people are selected to sit on a jury hearing a criminal case, the answer from most if not all will be 12. It can, therefore, come as something of a surprise to people facing trial at a crown court (and sometimes lawyers not well versed in crown court… Continue reading Jury Trial – Is 14 too many?