Issue 124  11th January 2020

Calls to Review PAYG Phones

The government has been urged to consider imposing restrictions on pay-as-you-go mobile phones to prevent county lines drug gangs using them. Current rules that allow people to buy the phones anonymously are being exploited by drug dealers, the policing watchdog for England and Wales said. It called for a Home Office review of the "criminal abuse" of mobile phones.

The report containing the request can be read here.

'CPS still plagued by disclosure failings, watchdog finds'

The Crown Prosecution Service’s disclosure of evidence is still sub-standard despite ‘early signs of improvement’, inspectors report today. HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), a watchdog for the CPS and the Serious Fraud Office, assessed how well the CPS is complying with its duty to disclose unused material (i.e evidence gathered but not replied upon by the prosecution).

The watchdog found that, while aspects of the CPS’s performance ‘show continuous improvement’, in some areas the baseline performance was ‘very low, and although there was progress there is still a long way to go before an acceptable standard is reached’.

The full report can be read here.

'Terrorism police list Extinction Rebellion as extremist ideology'

Counter-terrorism police placed the non-violent group Extinction Rebellion (XR) on a list of extremist ideologies that should be reported to the authorities running the Prevent programme, which aims to catch those at risk of committing atrocities, the Guardian has learned...

XR featured alongside threats to national security such as neo-Nazi terrorism and a pro-terrorist Islamist group. The guide, aimed at police officers, government organisations and teachers who by law have to report concerns about radicalisation, was dated last November. It says that issues to look out for include people who speak in “strong or emotive terms about environmental issues like climate change, ecology, species extinction, fracking, airport expansion or pollution”.

'Juries' rape myths challenged amid slump in convictions in trials'

More than a third of jurors are unsure if rape victims who display little emotion in the witness box can have been sexually assaulted despite psychological research disproving it, according to the first official investigation into juries’ belief in rape “myths.” The long-awaited research, based on interviews with jurors after trials, found 34 per cent were “unsure” if a rape victim would be expected to be “very emotional” when recounting the attack.

The long-awaited research, by Cheryl Thomas, professor of judicial studies at UCL, comes amid concern that rape prosecutions have slumped to a record low of 1.4 per cent despite a 43 per cent rise in rapes reported to police since 2016.

'Helen McCourt family seek review of decision to release killer'

The family of Helen McCourt are seeking an urgent judicial review to prevent her killer being released from prison despite never revealing where he hid her body.

McCourt’s brother Mike confirmed that they were working with a legal team to make the request after the Parole Board said it was standing by its original decision to free her murderer Ian Simms after refusing a request by the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, to keep him behind bars.

'Police record upskirting allegations at a rate of nearly one a day'

Incidents of upskirting have been reported to the police at a rate of nearly one a day in the six months since the creation of the new law banning the practice - with schoolchildren and a 74-year-old among the victims.

Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws by the Press Association found the number of incidents being reported to police had significantly increased since the law came in. The figures from 35 police forces found there had been 153 incidents reported to them in the 182 days since the law was created.