Issue 298  17th June 2023

His Majesty The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Dame Sue Carr as the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1 October 2023. This appointment follows the retirement of The Rt Hon. the Lord Burnett of Maldon on 30 September 2023...

Parliament must consider overhauling the “out-of-date” law used to jail a mother-of-three who illegally obtained abortion tablets to end her pregnancy during lockdown, a senior Tory has said. Caroline Nokes, chairwoman of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, has joined women’s rights groups in calling for reform to the 1861 legislation used to prosecute Carla Foster...

The Crown Prosecution Service said the case was “complex and traumatic”, but said it has a duty to ensure laws are “properly considered and applied when making difficult charging decisions”...

The Council has published 12 new and revised sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of motoring offences in England and Wales. The changes include updated versions of six current guidelines that were published in 2008 and reflect new maximum sentences for some of the offences, including causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

We have also published five new guidelines for offences created since the current guidelines were published. They include causing serious injury by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by driving while disqualified.

A new guideline for sentencing offenders convicted of causing injury by wanton or furious driving where a motorist causes injury or death off-road such as in a field or dirt track, or where a cyclist causes death or injury at any location has also been published. The new and revised guidelines, which apply to adults only, will come into effect on 1 July 2023.

The lord chief justice has revealed that the government missed its court spending pledge last year by £80m - but he remains optimistic about the prospect of future funding after discussions with Downing Street.

Giving evidence to the House of Lords constitution committee today, Lord Burnett of Maldon said that then-lord chancellor Dominic Raab initially found just £70m for improving the courts estate last year. This was despite the Treasury’s three-year spending review allocating £150m a year to deal with the multitude of repairs and maintenance works outstanding in courts across England and Wales...

Delays to fraud cases in England and Wales have doubled in eight years, prompting fresh criticism that not enough is being done to deliver justice. The rise in delays came despite the number of fraud cases coming through the courts dropping to barely a third of 2014 levels, according to the analysis by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA).

In the final quarter of 2022, there were 447 fraud cases, which took on average a record 497 days to complete from charge. By comparison, it took 242 days on average for the 1,294 fraud cases that were completed between October and December 2014...

More people who were unjustly criminalised for gay sex in the past will be able to have their convictions wiped from their records, the Home Office has announced. In a significant step forward in addressing the wrongs of the past, the government’s disregards and pardons scheme has been significantly widened from today (13 June).

Up until now, only men have been able to apply to have convictions wiped under a specified list of offences. These largely focused on offences of buggery and gross indecency between men. As of today anyone – including, for the first time, women - will be able to apply if they have been convicted or cautioned under any repealed or abolished offences relating to same-sex activity...

A clearer definition of ‘serious disruption’ will stop slow marching protesters causing hours of delay and distress to the public from tomorrow (15 June). This will further clarify existing public order laws to help the police respond to new highly disruptive protest tactics like slow marching. 156 of these highly disruptive protests have taken place in London since April. While the right to peaceful protest remains a cornerstone of our democracy, causing traffic to halt, delaying people getting to work and distracting the police from fighting crime will not be tolerated.

Police officers can now assess the cumulative impact of protests on the community over a period of time, rather than treating each incident in isolation. This will give officers the authority to move quickly and firmly to stop this campaign of disruption, ensuring Londoners, commuters and tourists can move freely around the capital without delay...