Issue 255  13th August 2022

'Criminal bar balloted on 'uninterrupted' strike action'

The criminal bar could commence full-blown strike action next month after it emerged that the government is refusing to budge on legal aid funding. The Criminal Bar Association is balloting members on whether to maintain the current action – alternating weeks of strike action combined with a refusal to accept new instructions and 'returned' cases – or escalate it.

After consulting with members over the last few weeks, the CBA said it had become clear that ‘a significant proportion of our members wish to be given an option to escalate our current action towards an uninterrupted strike in order to exert maximum leverage upon government at this critical time’. The results of the latest ballot will be announced on 21 August. Should the majority of members vote to escalate action, an uninterruped strike will begin on 5 September.

'Burglary, robbery and theft victims failed by police - watchdog'

Most victims of burglary, robbery and theft in England and Wales are not being given the justice they deserve, the police watchdog says. Her majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, calls current low charge rates "unacceptable and unsustainable". Some forces tackle these crimes well - but many do not, his report says.

One car-theft victim told BBC News officers had closed his case within 24 hours, without visiting the scene. Stefan Borson says his £82,000 Range Rover car was stolen from outside his home, in the early evening on Valentine's Day. He notified the police immediately, found pictures of the theft on his own security camera, and waited for officers to be in touch. He was therefore astonished to receive a letter, dated the next day, telling him: "We are sorry to say that with the evidence and leads available, it is unlikely that it would be possible to identify those responsible. We have therefore closed this case."

The report can be found here.

'Almost 1.5m England and Wales crime victims opt not to pursue cases'

Almost 1.5 million victims of crime in England and Wales have decided not to pursue their cases, feeding concern that public confidence in the criminal justice system has collapsed. Home Office figures unearthed by Labour show there were 1,411,650 victims who did not support continuing action after they had reported a crime in the year to March 2022. The figures come after the police’s official inspectorate said that a failure to stop thieves and burglars threatens police’s “bond of trust” with the public...

Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary, warned after the publication of a damning report on Thursday that “the public is likely to lose confidence in forces’ ability to keep them safe”. He told Sky News that forces had “a lot of inexperience at the moment”, with 31% of officers having completed under five years of service...

'Police ordered to consult victims of crime when releasing suspects on bail'

Police officers will have to seek the views of victims before deciding how they release criminal suspects in a reform of bail rules, The Times has learnt. Victims are to be asked about their “perception of future risk of harm” as part of an initiative aimed at reducing repeat violence by suspects who are under police investigation.

The circumstances and views of victims must be considered when officers decide whether to introduce bail restrictions such as limiting who a suspect can contact, where a suspect can live and whether a curfew is to be imposed. The College of Policing, the national standards body, said the new rules would “create a web of protection to keep people safe”. The Home Office recently reversed bail changes when an overhaul that was intended to speed up the system instead made police investigations longer and left victims at increased risk.

'Magistrates' court staff vote to strike over Common Platform'

Magistrates' court staff have voted in favour of strike action over the rollout of HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s Common Platform. Legal advisers and court associates working in magistrates court ‘voted overwhelmingly’ in favour of industrial action and action short of a strike, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said yesterday. The union balloted 180 members last month and 93% voted in support of strike action, with 97% voting in support of action short of a strike, on a turnout of 61%.

The government spent £236m implementing the Common Platform programme as at 31 March 2021 and HMCTS says the platform – which has dealt with nearly 158,000 criminal cases and is currently live in more than 100 courts – is ‘key to modernising the court system’. But the Common Platform has been beset by problems since its launch in September 2020: the lord chief justice revealed last year that its rollout had to be paused before the Gazette reported that criminal defence lawyers had regularly flagged up a problem with its case management system.

PCS has described the platform as ‘fundamentally flawed’ and said after a consultative ballot in December that its rollout has sent work-related stress and anxiety levels among its members in HMCTS ‘through the roof’. The union is demanding that no new cases are inputted onto the Common Platform, that HMCTS undertakes a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for the system and assurances that there will be no further job losses arising from the system.

'CPS sets out the law on street-based sexual harassment'

Street harassment such as cyber-flashing, up-skirting or the exposure of genitals in a public place are crimes which can and will be prosecuted the CPS has stressed, as new legal guidance is published today. The prosecution guidance on public order offences has been updated to include for the first time a specific chapter on charges relating to public sexual abuse. It follows a stark report published last year from the All-Party Parliament Group (APPG) for UN. Women which looked at the prevalence and reporting of sexual harassment in public spaces. The report found that 71 per cent of women in the UK have experienced some form of sexual harassment in a public space, but the incident was not reported to police in 95 per cent of cases...

In a move to encourage more victims to come forward – and to make sure prosecutions are carried out consistently – the new chapter clarifies the law around potential offences and evidence prosecutors will need. Specific offences include:

• Exposure: A person commits an offence if they intentionally expose their genitals and intend the person seeing them would experience alarm or distress.
• Up-skirting: Up-skirting is taking a photograph or video under someone’s clothing without their consent and the perpetrator not reasonably believing consent had been given. It is done with the intention to humiliate, alarm or distress the victim or gain sexual gratification.
• ‘Cyberflashing’: Categorised as a communications offence, ‘cyberflashing’ involves perpetrators sending unwanted sexual images to strangers in public places, via data sharing services such as Bluetooth or Airdrop.
• Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986: This involves the intention to cause harassment, alarm, or distress by words or behaviour. The effect on the victim is an essential element, with prosecutors required to prove someone actually suffered harassment, alarm or distress and the defendant acted intentionally.

The new legal guidance is here.

'Mother who abused her child so badly he had to have his legs amputated may be kept in prison'

A mother who abused her child so badly he had to have his legs amputated may be kept in jail for longer. Parents Jody Simpson and Anthony Smith were both jailed for 10 years in 2018 for torturing their son, Tony Hudgell, who is now seven. Tony was 41 days old when he was assaulted by Simpson and Smith, an attack which caused multiple fractures, dislocations and blunt trauma to the face, leading to organ failure, toxic shock and sepsis. He was left untreated and in agony for 10 days, and the damage meant both his legs had to be amputated...

Simpson was due to be released on licence at the halfway point of her prison sentence on Friday, but Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has referred her case to the Parole Board... Mr Raab said Tony endured "a horrific and systematic campaign of abuse from his birth parents" and said he is "duty bound" to do everything possible to prevent another child suffering at their hands. He added: "So I have referred the case of Jody Simpson to the Parole Board, under new powers designed to keep prisoners incarcerated for longer when their release would put public safety at risk."

Tougher sentencing for child abusers came into force in June, meaning anyone who causes or allows the death of a child or vulnerable adult in their household can now be given up to life in prison - increased from the previous 14-year maximum. The sentencing changes are known as "Tony's Law", following campaigning by the youngster's adoptive family.