Category: Latest News

The capacity of digital devices to store vast amounts of information presents issues for law enforcement and prosecutors. Over the last few years we have seen many instances of non-disclosure of key evidence, and at the same time victim advocates have complained that police investigations are overly intrusive and act as a deterrent to people… Continue reading Digital Evidence & Disclosure – New Challenges for the Defence

For some new drivers, six penalty points mean resitting a driving test, for other drivers twelve points may mean disqualification. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that a single piece of driving is not unduly punished when it comes to the imposition of penalty points. To explain the issues that can arise, we will use… Continue reading Penalty Points – Avoiding Double Counting

In a recent case, the Court of Appeal dealt with an appeal by the Attorney General against a sentence of 30 months imprisonment imposed following a guilty plea to various firearms offences.   The basis of plea, accepted in full by the prosecution read: “[that] he converted weapons as a hobby, the weapons were not… Continue reading Firearms: Court of Appeal Maintains Tough Sentencing Approach

Changes to the prison adjudication rules came in to force on 15 May 2020 and will remain in place until 25 March 2022, unless revoked earlier. The changes are in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.   What has changed? The rules cater for the situation where a disciplinary charge has been referred to an Independent… Continue reading Young Offenders – A Change to Prison Discipline Rules

It is quite common to read in a newspaper that someone has been arrested. Local papers will cover almost any story of interest, and national media if the case involves a high-profile person. For the person being investigated, such publicity can be devastating, as many people will conclude that there is ‘no smoke without fire’. The… Continue reading Police Investigations – Are They Now Secret?

Following on from the terror attacks at Fishmongers Hall on 29 November 2019, and in Streatham on 2 February 2020, the government has announced the next phase of its tougher approach to terrorism offences.   What are the aims of this proposed legislation? The Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill is designed to further strengthen the approach… Continue reading Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill

Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 states that if the following circumstances are present, it must be treated as an aggravating factor during sentencing, and in this article, we look at ways that you can mitigate its effect. Those circumstances are — That, at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or… Continue reading Harsher Sentences for Disability, Sexuality or Trans Identity

The housing market and industry have taken many innovative steps to ensure that it can adjust and survive during the lockdown restrictions across the UK that have been in place since March 2020. This has included more widespread use of electronic signatures and virtual valuations.    Selling and moving house during lockdown Since May 2020,… Continue reading Coronavirus and Conveyancing

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

In legislative terms, 2019 was a pretty quiet year, with parliament being so heavily occupied with Brexit, there was little time for anything else. 2020 promises to be somewhat different, the government has a substantial parliamentary majority, and being ‘tough on crime’ seems once again to be a popular political topic. The recent Queen’s Speech… Continue reading Criminal Law in 2020 – What Can We Expect?