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.
News
'Online safety law to be strengthened to stamp out illegal content'
Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries today announced extra priority illegal offences to be written on the face of the bill include revenge porn, hate crime, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people smuggling and sexual exploitation. Terrorism and child sexual abuse are already included. Previously the firms would have been forced to take such content down after it had been reported to them by users but now they must be proactive and prevent people being exposed in the first place...
Three new criminal offences, recommended by the Law Commission, will also be added to the Bill to make sure criminal law is fit for the internet age... The offences are: A ‘genuinely threatening’ communications offence, where communications are sent or posted to convey a threat of serious harm... A harm-based communications offence to capture communications sent to cause harm without a reasonable excuse... An offence for when a person sends a communication they know to be false with the intention to cause non-trivial emotional, psychological or physical harm... The maximum sentences for each offence will differ. If someone is found guilty of a harm based offence they could go to prison for up to two years, up to 51 weeks for the false communication offence and up to five years for the threatening communications offence. The maximum sentence was six months under the Communications Act and two years under the Malicious Communications Act.
A Review of the Year in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) 2020 – 2021
The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has published its annual report for 2020-21...
Lord Justice Fulford addresses the challenges of the past 12 months and looks to the future...
Cases
R v AAD & Ors [2022] EWCA Crim 106
... The Registrar has directed that these three cases are listed together in a "special court" with a view to providing further guidance in cases involving victims of trafficking ("VOT/VOTs")...
... The decision of the jury as to whether the prosecution had negatived the section 45 defence requires the jurors to be sure that the account given by the appellant in his or her evidence in chief (and thus the core account on which the case worker proceeded) was not true. That was not an issue on which the evidence of the case worker could give them any assistance. The jury were well placed (certainly in Brecani, given the nature of the evidence in that case) to form their own conclusions without help from the case worker (see [62]).
We would add that it does not matter that the members of the jury have not shared the suggested experiences described by the defendant in a human trafficking or modern slavery case. Indeed, this applies in all criminal trials regardless of the nature of the charge. Few jurors will have been subjected, for instance, to duress leading to their participation in an armed robbery or will have found themselves caught up or involved in a city centre riot. This lack of first-hand experience of the circumstances of offences such as these does not require a witness (a case worker or otherwise) to express a view as to whether the account of the defendant is consistent with how someone would behave if placed under duress to commit armed robbery or if caught up in a riot. The jurors will be well placed to form their own conclusions on these questions. It follows that we reject Mr Knight's submission that a trafficking expert can express an opinion in evidence before the jury as to the plausibility and consistency of the defendant's account. Similarly, we disagree with the suggestion that a trafficking expert during a trial can comment on the vulnerability of the defendant. It is equally impermissible for an expert in a trafficking trial to express a view as to whether a given set of facts meets the legal definition of trafficking, acting thereby as an expert on the law of England and Wales. None of these situations come within the well-known exceptions, such as with diminished responsibility, when an expert is permitted to give evidence on the "ultimate issue" (see DPP v A & B Chewing Gum [1968] 1 QB 159 at 164)...
International
'Andrew Forrest launches criminal action against Facebook over scam ads that used his image'
The Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched criminal proceedings against Facebook alleging the tech giant breached federal anti-money laundering laws by not cracking down sufficiently on scam ads that used his image.
The action in the Western Australia magistrates court is the first time Facebook has faced criminal charges anywhere in the world, Forrest said on Thursday. The charges allege Facebook was criminally reckless by not taking sufficient steps to stop criminals from using its social media platform to send scam advertisements that aimed to defraud Australian users...
Other
'Legal aid underpins a fair justice system, says Lord Wolfson'
The Government is getting ready to publish its response to the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid, a significant milestone on the road to reform. This is a huge opportunity to make real, lasting change to the criminal justice system – improving the experiences of practitioners, victims and everyone who uses it.
Some in the profession have called for us to bring forward our response, which I understand. But taking time to get these proposals right is crucial. This is wide-ranging reform, years in the making. It deserves to be considered properly, not pushed through in haste. Doing so would cut into the time we have to engage with the sector – whose voices are so important – and also risks the lawfulness of any future proposals...