Issue 155  15th August 2020

A trial at Liverpool Crown Court had to be halted yesterday and the jury discharged after a paralegal tested positive for Covid-19. According to an announcement by the Northern Circuit, the representative body for barristers practising in the north of England, a Crown Prosecution Service paralegal who works at courts in Chester and Merseyside has been diagnosed with coronavirus... One trial was halted and the jury discharged because of concerns the individual had touched documents in the jury bundle. However the case has been re-listed for today with a new jury.

Manchester Crown Court will remain shut on Monday and Tuesday next week following a coronavirus outbreak. It has now been confirmed that the number of positive tests within staff working at the Spinningfields court has risen to eight, from the figure of six previously announced... The court was first closed last Thursday, before reopening in the afternoon and the following day. It has remained shut since Monday.

Downing Street is planning a controversial intervention to reverse the record decline in rape prosecutions by imposing targets on police and prosecutors, the Guardian has learned. In a highly unusual move, the prime minister’s crime and justice taskforce is planning to set targets for police to make more “high-quality” referrals of rape cases to the Crown Prosecution Service and for the CPS to prosecute and bring more rape cases to trial.

It paves the way for a row with the CPS, which is likely to oppose the change for impinging on its independence. The service has in the past set its own targets for different crimes, but this is understood to be the first time it would be subject to a government-imposed target for rape prosecutions. The cross-government crime and justice taskforce, led by Boris Johnson, is set to call for the service to prosecute a greater volume and proportion of rape cases year on year. It is expected to announce the targets later this year.

Those practitioners who are involved in cases with vulnerable witnesses will be familiar with the use of S28 and the fact that a court may direct that any cross-examination and re-examination of the witness be video recorded and that recording admitted as evidence. There is to be an increased number of courts where this is available: see table below... The relevant SI that delivers this increased roll out is set for 24th August... Any case that has a PTPH on or after the date the CO is in force - in this case 24th August, with a vulnerable victim, will be eligible for the pre-recorded cross examination...

The chance of securing a pupillage through the main portal system shrank to less than 7% this year, with ethnic minority applicants even less likely to receive an offer than their white peers. Candidates with parents who are barristers or judges remained at a significant advantage.

According to Bar Council figures seen by the Gazette, the number of people recruited through the ‘pupillage gateway’ – a centralised system which accounts for around half of all offers – fell to 135 this year, down from 216 in 2019. Meanwhile the chances of getting an offer fell from 9.4% to 6.6% year-on-year

Students on the Bar Professional Training Course have voiced their anger after technical problems derailed their first online exam... Now, reports have emerged revealing that the OnVUE system collapsed during the ethics exam, the first to be taken online, with students taking to social media to voice their anger... Meanwhile other students complained of having to urinate in bottles because the delivery system would not allow them to leave their desks...

The use of automatic facial recognition (AFR) technology by South Wales Police is unlawful, the Court of Appeal has ruled. It follows a legal challenge brought by civil rights group Liberty and Ed Bridges, 37, from Cardiff. But the court also found its use was proportionate interference with human rights as the benefits outweighed the impact on Mr Bridges. South Wales Police said it would not be appealing the findings.

People who repeatedly refuse to wear a face mask will be hit with increased fines of up to £3,200, Boris Johnson has said, as he announced England’s lockdown measures will be further eased from Saturday. Organisers of illegal raves face £10,000 penalties under tougher new enforcement measures outlined alongside the latest loosening of the UK’s coronavirus restrictions.