News
Court Estate Closures
HMCTS has started consulting on proposals to close the following court buildings:
- Blackfriars Crown Court
- Cambridge Magistrates’ Court
- Banbury Magistrates’ Court
- Maidenhead Magistrates’ Court
- Chorley Magistrates’ Court
- Fleetwood Magistrates’ Court
- Northallerton Magistrates’ Court
The consultation process closes on 29 March 2018.
'London rape trial collapses after phone images undermine case'
Another example of disclosure problems in cases concerning serious sexual offences:
A rape trial has collapsed after the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence when it emerged that images from the defendant’s phone of him in bed with his alleged victim had not been disclosed.
The failure of the case at Snaresbrook crown court, east London, is the latest example of crucial digital evidence contained on a mobile either not being found or not being handed over to defence solicitors.
Ben Stokes Charged
Ben Stokes has been charged with affray in relation to an incident of disorder in Bristol city centre.
HMP Nottingham Urgent Notification
An “urgent notification” has been issued by the prisons watchdog for the first time because he warns lives are at risk at HMP Nottingham after inspectors deemed it a “fundamentally unsafe” jail.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons has put new Justice Secretary David Gauke publicly on notice that Nottingham jail requires immediate action, giving him 28 days to respond in public.
The formal notification letter can be read here.
Google of Arresting Officer Results in Appeal
A man found guilty of stealing mailbags more than 40 years ago has had his conviction quashed in what the lord chief justice described as an exceptional case. The court of appeal heard that the arresting officer in the original trial had died in prison not long afterwards while also serving a sentence for mailbag theft.
The court heard that four years ago Simmons was given “friendly advice” by barrister Daniel Barnett on LBC radio’s legal advice programme to Google the name of his arresting officer if he wished to overturn his conviction. He did so without expecting to discover anything but what emerged was that Ridgewell himself had been jailed for seven years for mailbag thefts totalling £300,000 in 1980, and had died in prison in 1982.
Other
Numbers of Community Sentences Falling
A BBC News article investigating why the number of offenders subject to community sentences is falling.
Obscurity
Producing Anti-Personnel Landmines
Producing an anti-personnel landmine is contrary to section 2 of the Landmines Act 1998.