About
A free weekly collection of criminal law links - for practitioners, law students, and anyone with an interest in the criminal justice system of England and Wales.
Curated by Sam Willis, a barrister at 5 King's Bench Walk.
News
'Prisoners to be held in police cells to deal with overcrowding'
Prisoners will be temporarily held in police cells to deal with prisons running out of space, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed. The emergency measures, called Operation Safeguard, are triggered when prisons are close to capacity. The government says 200 police cells will be freed up by the measures, which are expected to last for two months but could be extended depending on the size of the prison population...
Figures released on Monday show the number of prisoners is at a six-month high, with 87,556 people currently in custody. The male prison estate is currently operating at more than 99% occupancy, the MoJ said. This is not the first time Operation Safeguard has been triggered and has been introduced during periods of high demand for prison space - including in May 2024 and February 2023...
'Criminal Bar Association survey: one in three criminal barristers intend to quit'
The government faces a ‘catastrophic loss’ of lawyers to help bring down the Crown court backlog after a national survey found that one in three criminal barristers intends to quit. The Criminal Bar Association received 1,717 responses to its latest national survey, ‘well above that of nationally representative surveys which are relied upon by government’.
One in three criminal barristers is actively considering moving their practice into another discipline while only 44% remain committed to primarily doing publicly funded criminal work. The CBA said remuneration fails to reflect the hours of work involved. Some 77% of barristers prepare their cases pretty much every weekend, 35% work Saturday and Sunday, over 80% work more than 50 hours a week, 50% work over 60 hours a week and 20% work over 70 hours a week. Eight in 10 barristers with children under 18 have missed family and personal events while seven in 10 have experienced stressful childcare issues. Top 'work stressors and strains' included exasperation at doing large amounts of administrative work previously done by the Crown Prosecution Service and instructing solicitors, the listing of ineffective cases and working in crumbling courts. Nine in 10 barristers said the CBA must focus on adequate and fair remuneration. Nearly all respondents want an independent national pay review body that sets annual fee increases, which are accepted by government...
'Three-and-a-half-year wait for machete Crown court trial sets new record'
A trial has been adjourned for over three and a half years in what is thought to be the longest delay in a case due to the Crown court backlog. The latest backlog total is 73,105 cases. The figure stood at a record low of 33,290 in March 2019, but the cumulative impact of cuts to the criminal justice system, including a reduction of judges’ sitting days and a shortage of criminal barristers, sent it up again. Reports of defendants appearing for jury trial two years after their first appearance before magistrates are now commonplace. But investigative court reporting blog Mouse in The Court revealed this week that one defendant in Snaresbrook Crown Court (pictured) has had their case delayed by 43 months.
The defendant, a 31-year-old man, had been charged with threatening members of the public with a machete in the Tower Hamlets area of London. He denies the allegations. Having been granted conditional bail - with a requirement to wear a GPS tag - he was told the next available trial date for non-custody cases was the 16 October 2028. The trial is expected to last two to three days. The defendant’s counsel was asked if they were available for trial on that date. He replied, 'I won’t have retired by then'...
'Victims and survivors of terrorism to be given greater support'
Victims and survivors of terrorism will receive strengthened support under new plans outlined by the government today. As part of the Plan for Change, the government will set up a new dedicated support hub for victims and survivors, supporting their needs in the immediate and long-term aftermath of a terrorist attack. Proposals for a new national day for victims and survivors of terrorism will also be consulted on, helping the country to remember and honour those who have been tragically killed or impacted by terrorist attacks...
Other recommendations from the review will also be progressed including:
- enhanced communications to victims to bolster awareness of the support package available to them
- improving the support available for children and young people, to ensure they do not fall through the gaps
Cases
R v Ivanova & Ors [2024] EWCA Crim 808
... The allegation in count 1 is one of a conspiracy to breach the provisions of section 1(1)(c) of the Official Secrets Act 1911 (the 1911 Act[1]) contrary to section 1(1) of the 1977 Act. The particulars of count 1 (as amended [2]) now allege that the defendants "between the 30th day of August 2020 and the 8th day of February 2023 conspired together and with Jan Marsalek and others unknown to obtain, collect, record, publish or communicate documents or information which was intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and interests of the State"...
... In our judgment, Chandler clearly establishes that, in proving that the defendant acted "for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State" the prosecution must proceed in two steps. First, it must identify a "purpose" for which the defendant acted. That question involves inquiring into the defendant's state of mind: why he acted as he did. At this stage, the prosecution only has to identify a purpose; and it is entitled to identify an immediate one, such as temporarily preventing the operation of an airbase, even if the defendant says that some other ultimate purpose was also being pursued. Second, the prosecution must prove that the purpose it has identified was "prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State". That is an objective question. What matters is whether the purpose was, in fact, prejudicial to the interests of the State, not whether the defendant had the subjective intention of prejudicing the safety or interests of the state...
... In our judgment, the 1911 Act must be construed without reference to the 2023 Act and in a common sense way. This is not a case of applying any "updated construction": enemy means the same thing now as it did in the years before the First World War. We agree with the judge that Russia would be "an enemy" if the jury concluded on the evidence that it was a country with whom the UK might some day be at war. However, neither Phillimore J nor the judge was laying down a comprehensive test. There is no reason in our view why the term "an enemy" should not include a country which represents a current threat to the national security of the UK. That formulation may well involve issues of fact and degree which the jury would be well-placed to assess, on evidence. As the judge correctly observed, friendly powers would fall outside this definition...
Other
Independent Review of Disclosure and Fraud Offences
... In this Review, I have endeavoured to find ambitious but realistic proposals to assist in the creation of a modern disclosure regime built upon the pillars of transparency, clarity, efficiency, and proportionality – all serving to reinforce the central tenet of justice. The sum of these proposals aims to create a modern disclosure regime, that I hope will embrace technology to minimise needless administrative burdens on law enforcement agencies, freeing up police resource to be better used proactively tackling crime. Where time taken on disclosure is significantly reduced, this will assist in allowing the court backlog to be tackled more swiftly. It will also ensure that there is a system that retains vital safeguards against the miscarriage of justice, and that parties are clear on their roles and responsibilities. An upgraded framework that promotes greater transparency regarding the management and disclosure of material but also recognises that one size may no longer fit all, and that a flexible, pragmatic approach is required in the most complex cases. A modern regime that ultimately delivers for defendants and complainants, laying the foundation for increased confidence in our criminal justice system.
To that end, I propose a miscellany of measures designed to improve understanding of the disclosure process.10 Each of these measures is free standing but not without significance. There are a total of 45 recommendations in this Independent Review and I commend them to the Home Secretary...
'Gold toilet heist: The inside story at Blenheim Palace'
In the early hours of 14 September 2019, Eleanor Paice jolted awake to the sound of smashing glass. Living in a staff flat above Blenheim Palace, the guest services supervisor was used to strange noises. But when fire alarms began to blare, she knew something was wrong. She quickly began evacuating to the great courtyard. But unbeknownst to her, she was running straight into the final moments of an audacious heist. Five men had smashed their way into the palace, ripped out a £4.8m solid gold toilet and fled in a stolen Volkswagen Golf...