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
'Dame Sue Carr sworn in as Lady Chief Justice'
Dame Sue Carr today becomes, and will be known as, the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales. As Lady Chief Justice, Dame Sue Carr will be the President of the Courts of England and Wales and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales. She is the 98th person to hold this historic office and the first woman.
Dame Carr was sworn in at a ceremony held today at the Royal Courts of Justice, where she took the judicial oath. The ceremony was attended by many representatives from across the justice system with speeches delivered by the Master of the Rolls and Attorney General, as well as representatives from the Bar Council and Law Society.
'Mercy killing addressed in CPS guidance'
New guidance on homicide prosecutions has been issued by the Crown Prosecution Service, including criteria used to assess whether prosecuting a ‘mercy killing’ is in the public interest. The guidance, issued today, restates the law, reminding prosecutors: ‘An offender who takes the life or attempts to take the life of a victim may act on the wishes of the victim and may act out of mercy, but this does not provide a defence in law.’ But it puts a stress on ‘public interest’ considerations in taking a decision to prosecute. A prosecution is less likely to be required if, among other considerations, ‘The victim had reached a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision that they wished for their life to end’. Other criteria include whether the suspect ‘was motivated by compassion alone’, their actions could be characterised as ‘reluctant’ and if the victim was unable to end their own life...
'Foreign prison rental to ensure public protection'
The Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has announced new measures that will allow the government to rent prison cells overseas to ensure dangerous offenders can be locked up for longer...
The average prison sentence has increased by 57% since 2010 and other sentencing changes have been made to ensure the most serious offenders spend longer behind bars. To meet this demand the government has embarked on the biggest prison expansion programme in over a century, including 6 new prisons, to create an additional 20,000 places... The Justice Secretary unveiled the government will now also enter exploratory discussions with potential partner countries in Europe to rent prison space abroad. Agreements would mean that prisoners in the UK could be moved to another country’s prison estate provided the facilities, regime and rehabilitation provided meets British standards. This is similar to steps taken by Belgium and Norway which have used foreign prison places in the Netherlands in the last decade...
'Whole Life Order reforms to be applied to active cases'
The Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk KC, has announced reforms to how whole life orders are used will be applied retrospectively. This will mean people who have committed a crime but are yet to be sentenced will face the possibility of being given a whole life order – even if the offence is committed before future legislation commences... It follows an announcement in August that legislation would be introduced to expand the specific circumstances in statute where a whole life order would be expected. Under these reforms a single murder committed with sexual or sadistic conduct could receive a whole life order while current laws require two or more murders of this nature...
Cases
R v Butt & Anor [2023] EWCA Crim 1131
...The common issue in three of these cases concerns the power of the Crown Court to deal with cases where there appears to have been an error in the process by which the case was transferred to the Crown Court by the magistrates' court...
... Where the decision in Clark is inconsistent with Ayhan and the long standing and authoritative decisions on which Ayhan relies, in our judgment, is in its decision that the Crown Court was rendered powerless by the defects in the sending sheet. In our judgment, that creates a situation where we are entitled and bound to choose between inconsistent decisions of this court, see Young v. Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. [1944] KB 718. Given the weight of the authority culminating in Ayhan and Gould, we consider that we are bound to choose to follow those cases...
... To summarise the position, when confronted with an apparently defective Court Extract or sending sheet, the Crown Court:-
i) May hold that the defect is so fundamental that nothing has happened which gives jurisdiction to the Crown Court. This is approved in Gould at [80] following R v Sheffield Crown Court Ex p. Director of Public Prosecutions (1994) 15 Cr.App. R. (S.) 768, see [57] below. If that is so, the case has not left the magistrates' court and the Crown Court judge may lawfully have recourse to section 66 of the Courts Act 2003 and deal with the case as a DJ(MC). In cases of this kind there was an order by the magistrates' court which has been treated as being of no effect by the Crown Court and Gould at [80] suggested that if a quashing order from the Divisional Court is required some expedited procedure might be devised. If the Crown Court judge, sitting as a DJ(MC), corrects the original order under section 142 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 then the problem does not arise.
ii) May apply Ayhan and other cases and deal with the case as validly committed if the magistrates' court had power to commit and the Court Extract or sending sheet has failed to identify that power. The breadth of this power is illustrated by Russell which was approved in Ayhan notwithstanding the reservations of the commentator in the Criminal Law Review quoted above.
Other
'I was innocent - but it cost me £500,000 to prove it'
Each year, thousands of people in England and Wales are accused of crimes for which they are later acquitted. While their names may be cleared, they are often left emotionally and financially devastated - as Brian Buckle, who was wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing a child, discovered first-hand.
'When should we call people to the Bar – and other challenges for the Bar of 2043'
Thanks to everyone who attended ‘The Bar of 2043’ event at Inner Temple in September and especially to Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive of JUSTICE, who helped to make the night a success. I explained why the Bar Council thinks we should only call people to the Bar when they have completed pupillage, instead of the present system in which the Inns confer the title before people are allowed to exercise rights of audience...