Issue 193  

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.

5kbw.co.uk

News

Queen's Speech 2021

The Queen’s Speech sets out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.

  • Introducing tougher sentences for offences such as rape, manslaughter and wounding with intent to cause Grievous Bodily Harm by ending the automatic release at the halfway point for serious sexual and violent offenders sentenced to a standard determinate sentence of between 4 and 7 years.
  • Increasing the maximum prison sentence for assaulting an emergency worker from 12 months to two years
  • Reforming pre-charge bail
  • Extending the scope of offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 relating to the abuse of positions of trust legislation to capture additional roles, such as sport coaches and religious leaders
  • A new criminal offence to target trespassers using vehicles to reside on land who are causing significant damage or significant disruption to local communities
  • ... We will address this by increasing capacity in our courts, running Crown Courts to the fullest possible extent, using every judge and courtroom to maximise court sitting days
  • We will support court recovery in England and Wales by modernising and streamlining court processes and removing outdated or unnecessary procedures and hearings.
  • We will extend the powers of criminal courts to serve documents more efficiently, including by electronic means, and simplify proceedings through greater use of written/online procedures for entering pleas; and speed up the allocation process for either-way cases enabling it to be done in the defendant’s absence and in writing without a court hearing if appropriate.
  • We will also schedule trials as quickly as possible for either-way offences, enabling defendants to be sent straight to the Crown Court (without a hearing in the magistrates court) if they indicate a guilty plea to a triable either way offence.
www.gov.uk

'Crime drops by 8% during year of lockdowns, says ONS'

Crime recorded by police in England and Wales fell by 8% in 2020 as periods of lockdown caused theft reports to drop by more than a quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Firearms offences fell by 11% and knife crime dropped by 9%. Domestic abuse reports increased, however, along with fraud based on online shopping.

The ONS said the "majority" of the fluctuation in crime rates during the year was due to periods of lockdown. The annual reduction in crime was mostly driven by "substantial falls" between April and June when the first lockdown took place. Crime increased again from July to September as restrictions were eased and fell again as further lockdown measures were imposed in the final months of the year.

bbc.co.uk

'Crown court backlog starts to stabilise'

The Crown court backlog appears to be stabilising at 58,000 cases, after swelling by almost 50% over the course of the pandemic. According to figures published today by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, 57,894 Crown court cases were outstanding on 25 April 2021, down from 58,056 the previous week. The backlog has hovered between 57,000 and 58,000 cases since the beginning of February. The number of court disposals is also on the rise, with 9,583 issued in March 2021, up from 7,831 the previous month. Disposals fell as low as 3,123 in April 2020.

lawgazette.co.uk

'Disbarred Jonathon Seed wins Wiltshire PCC race'

A fresh Police and Crime Commissioner election will be held after a disbarred candidate won. Conservative candidate Jonathon Seed gained 100,003 first and second preference votes in the Swindon and Wiltshire election. News of an historical driving offence which made him ineligible did not emerge until Sunday after polls had closed. Wiltshire Police said it was assessing how to proceed.

bbc.co.uk

Magistrates’ Criminal Courts 5-Point Plan

The senior judiciary and HMCTS have developed a 5-point plan for the recovery of magistrates’ adult and youth courts dealing with criminal matters.

  • Improving on pre-Christmas listing and disposal rates from April 2021.
  • Return to Transforming Summary Justice charging timings by July 2021.
  • Focus on trial activity to reduce trial waiting times through trial blitzes.
  • Continue to maximise court capacity with flexible listing.
  • Magistrates return to normal arrangements by July 2021.
www.judiciary.uk

Cases

R v Baldwin [2021] EWCA Crim 703

This appeal raises the issue of whether a post acquittal restraining order made under section 5A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 ("the 1997 Act") was properly made against the Appellant Mr Baldwin, after he had been acquitted of offences of making threats to kill, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft and criminal damage.

... Proceedings for a restraining order under section 5A of the 1997 Act are civil in nature, but in civil proceedings it is still necessary to identify what evidence is admissible in support of an application for an order. It is right to record that in civil proceedings an application for an interim injunction to restrain a person from harassing another the order is likely to be obtained on witness evidence alone. A contested application for a final injunction to restrain harassment, however, is likely to require the hearing of oral evidence where there is a relevant contested issue of fact to be determined...

... In our judgment if a judge is considering making a restraining order of his or her own motion in a case where there has been no trial and no evidence has been offered, it will be necessary for the judge to consider carefully what evidence is relevant to the issue of the making of the restraining order, and consider which parts of that evidence are agreed or disputed. This needs to be identified fairly so that the defendant may respond to the proposed order. Witness statements are admissible in support of an order, but as this will be final order for a restraining order (whether for a limited period of time or without limit of time), then a judge is likely to need to hear oral evidence to resolve any relevant dispute of facts. Once the relevant facts have been proved, in giving judgment about why it has been necessary to make a restraining order, the judge will need to identify in the judgment the evidence justifying the necessity for making the order, see R v Major...

bailii.org

Other

Consultation - Computer Misuse Act 1990

The scope of this call is the Computer Misuse Act 1990, including offences and the powers available to law enforcement agencies to investigate those offences. This consultation closes at 11:45pm on 8 June 2021

Since the Act was passed 30 years ago, our reliance on the digital world has increased enormously and we are now critically dependent on the internet. The call’s aim is to identify whether there is activity causing harm in the area covered by the Act that is not adequately addressed by the current offences.

www.gov.uk

Consultation - Child Sexual Offences Sentencing Guidelines

The Sentencing Council has launched a consultation on revised sentencing guidelines for child sexual offences where no child exists or is harmed.  The revised guidelines will clarify how courts in England and Wales should sentence offenders convicted of these offences.

The Council is seeking views on proposed changes to the guidelines, which will see judges and magistrates base the sentence they impose on the intended sexual harm to a child, whether or not a child victim existed or sexual activity took place, for example in cases where the offender was arrested following a police or concerned citizens operation.

sentencingcouncil.org.uk

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