News
AGFS Statements
The Chair of the Bar has published a further statement on the AGFS reform.
Garden Court Chambers has announced that its members will effectively go on strike. They will not undertake any criminal work with legal aid certificates under the new scheme and will be operating a “no returns” policy.
Terms for GMC Gross Negligence Manslaughter Review
The General Medical Council (GMC) has announced the terms of reference for a cross-UK, independent review into how gross negligence manslaughter, and Culpable Homicide, the equivalent offence in Scotland, are applied to medical practice.
Sentencing Code - Children and Young Persons
The Law Commission, as part of its consultation into the creation of a Sentencing Code, has released an additional part specifically on children and young persons.
Shoreham Air Show Charges
In relation to the deaths of 11 people at the Shoreham Air Show, the CPS has charged the pilot with manslaughter by gross negligence and with endangering an aircraft (contrary to Article 137 of the Air Navigation Order 2009).
BSB Statement on Role of Inns for Students
Following its recent consultation, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has agreed in principle how it should prescribe the future role of the Inns of Court in the training and qualification of barristers.
The two major changes are that the BSB will have a 'strengthened quality assurance/compliance' role in relation to pre-Call activities of the Inns, and the content of qualifying sessions will be changed to better align them with the Professional Statement, to involve public interest matters such as the advocate's role in the rule of law, and to better integrate students with practitioners.
Cases
Sentencing Remarks in R v Hassan
Ahmed Hassan, the 2017 London tube bomber, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years.
DPP v Sugden [2018] EWHC 544 (Admin)
At trial in the Magistrates' Court, the Crown was prevented from allowing an officer to refresh his memory from a copied Form MG DD/A in relation to a breath test procedure. The DJ purported to apply the "best evidence" rule, as the Crown was unable to produce the original form.
The High Court found that the "best evidence" rule, and therefore the admissibility of a document in these circumstances, does not affect the power to allow memory refreshing under section 139(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The officer should have been allowed to refresh his memory using the document, regardless of its evidential status.
The High Court also found that the document would have been admissible as evidence if the Crown had tried to adduce it in chief through the officer. Applying the best evidence rule, there was no evidence that the copy had been altered, and any risk of discrepancy was a matter for cross-examination and comment. The Defendant would not have been prejudiced by its admittance.
Other
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken
But I have spent the best part of a decade prosecuting, defending and advising on behalf of my fellow citizens. And what I have seen is that despite the noble principles underpinning the system, despite its international prestige, its intellectual craftsmanship and the very real blood, sweat and tears spilt in its ponderous cultivation, the criminal justice system is close to breaking point.
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Obscurity
Cuckooing
In general terms, cuckooing refers to retail drug dealers from large metropolitan centres who travel to a smaller provincial community to sell drugs and who set themselves up in premises locally from which they will operate. Very frequently, they will latch onto a local dealer and take over his network, or onto a local user, and take over his address as a base for operations. Sometimes it is a combination of the two. Often large supplies of the drug will not be maintained in the provincial centre, but will be the subject of a re-supply operation from the metropolitan base. Sometimes a manager will be placed in the local area to run operations.