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The sentencing regime in the magistrates’ court is notoriously complex and about to change again following a government U-Turn. In May 2022, the government allowed magistrates to imprison an adult...
Updates to sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of child cruelty offences including causing or allowing death or serious injury in England and Wales, were published this week by the Sentencing...
PP sentences were introduced to prevent serious offenders being released when still a danger to the public. They were scrapped in 2012, but nearly 3000 people remain in prison under...
In 2022 the Law Commission was asked to clarify the current legal status of remote driving and consider possible reforms. The request came from the UK Government’s Centre for Connected...
The current Justice Secretary has long been on record as no fan of the Parole Board. A string of high-profile interventions, primarily unsuccessful, has led to new changes being announced,...
The Court of Appeal has issued guidance on whether it is ever appropriate to disqualify someone from driving a motor vehicle for the rest of their life. The Court was...
The issue of modern slavery and legal defences that might be available to those suspected of crime has occupied a great deal of judicial time over the last five years....
New legislation (The Merchant Shipping (Watercraft) Order 2023) is being introduced to crack down on the dangerous misuse of watercraft such as jet skis, with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...
Landfill Tax applies to all waste disposed at a licensed landfill site (unless the waste is classed as exempt). The permit holders for landfill sites (operators) are liable to Landfill...
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...
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...
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,...
Section 174: Standard of proof On 29th November 2022, section 174 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 came into force, making a substantial legal change concerning the...
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...
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...
It is an offence for a person, with the intention to: (a) of cause public alarm or anxiety, or (b) cause injury to members of the public consuming or using...
In 2016 the Supreme Court held that the joint enterprise laws needed revisiting, holding that previous cases were wrongly decided: ‘The unanimous conclusion of the court is that Chan Wing-Siu...
Any avid fan of American courtroom drama will be familiar with the idea of lawyers using ingenious methods to try and select a favourable jury panel. In England and Wales,...
For decades academics, policy makers, practitioners and other experts have deliberated on how best to create safer communities by preventing offending by children. For the past 20 years or more,...
A new public order bill is currently before parliament and may trigger a more authoritarian approach to protest rights. Introducing the bill, then Secretary of State for the Home Office...
Changes to pre-charge bail arrangements and the current system of “release under investigation” are expected to come into force in late October 2022 when schedule 4 of the Police, Crime,...
HM Prison & Probation Service launched an electronic tagging programme to improve efficiency and increase the usefulness of tagging for police and probation services, but after significant setbacks and delays...
Given we are criminal defence lawyers we interact with police on a regular basis, but perhaps without thinking too much about the office of police constable and what it entails....
When sentencing for offences of assault, the use of a weapon will always be an aggravating feature. The sentencing guideline also refers explicitly to “highly dangerous weapons” and will be...
In a recent case (Spivey [2022] EWCA Crim 997) a Judge was faced with offenders who had just turned 18 years of age. When sentencing, he made the following observation:...
Custody time limits seek to regulate the maximum period that a person can be held in custody before their trial commencing. Broadly speaking, that period is one of six months....
As part of a standard stop and search, police officers can require those being searched to remove an outer coat, jacket, or gloves. Officers also have legal powers to require...
Confiscation remains one of the most challenging areas of criminal law, confusing not only clients but also many lawyers with insufficient expertise in this area. In a recent case, the...
Former footballer Ryan Giggs is on trial for a number of offences including “using controlling and coercive behaviour”. We of course would never comment on an ongoing trial, but in...
Sections 63 and 64 of The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 came in to force on 1st August 2022. It created two new offences of trespass with intent...
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