News
'Rolf Harris has one of 12 indecent assault convictions quashed on appeal'
Rolf Harris, the disgraced entertainer, has had one of 12 indecent assault convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Three judges in London ruled that the conviction was "unsafe", but rejected applications by the 87-year-old, from Bray, Berkshire, to challenge 11 other indecent assault convictions.
'Hairdresser found guilty of trying to infect 10 men with HIV'
A hairdresser has been found guilty of deliberately trying to infect 10 men with HIV after meeting them on Grindr.
Daryll Rowe was convicted of five counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, and five counts of attempting to do so, on Wednesday afternoon at Lewes Crown Court.
The jury of seven women and five men returned its verdicts after 18 hours deliberating.
999 Video Live Streaming
A project which will allow the public to share live video when making an emergency call to the police is to be piloted in Wales.
It allows callers to use their smartphones to stream footage direct to the control room, giving operators an accurate picture of what is going on and how best to respond.
The videos can then be used as evidence to support investigations.
More details on the software can be found here.
Cases
DPP v Patterson [2017] EWHC 2820 (Admin)
A High Court decision commenting on whether Ivey or Ghosh states the correct test for dishonesty.
Given the terms of the unanimous observations of the Supreme Court expressed by Lord Hughes, who does not shy from asserting that Ghosh does not correctly represent the law, it is difficult to imagine the Court of Appeal preferring Ghosh to Ivey in the future.
R v Harris [2017] EWCA Crim 1849
Rolf Harris partially succeeds in an appeal against 12 indecent assault convictions. One conviction was quashed after the Court of Appeal received fresh evidence.
Other
'The Secret Barrister: A year of rubbish media reports'
An interesting blog post on the criminal law's 'image problem'.
Criminal Evidence and Blockchains
A very niche MoJ post from earlier in the month, discussing how blockchains (the technology used in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies) could be used to verify criminal evidence.
The concept is that the fingerprint (hash) of body-worn video footage could be added to a read-only public ledger immediately after each shift. At trial, anyone interested would be able to verify that the footage being played to the jury is exactly the same footage as that previously uploaded.
More details are available here.
Obscurity
Capturing a Wild Bird
Capturing a wild bird is contrary to section 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.