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
'Victims ‘suffering’ as crown court backlog hits record high'
The backlog of cases waiting to be dealt with by crown courts in England and Wales has reached the highest level on record and is continuing to rise, figures show. There were 66,547 outstanding cases in crown courts, according to quarterly Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data for July to September published on Thursday. This is up 3% on the previous three-month period and the highest figure since records began almost a decade ago in 2014.
The latest management information indicates the backlog continued to grow, with the number of cases coming to crown courts still exceeding those completed in October, the department said... Tana Adkin KC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association, said the public needed to have “faith” in the justice system, adding: “Delays in bringing cases to trial are symptomatic of an underfunded criminal justice system with poor regard for the people needed to bring cases to a just conclusion.”
'Law Society v Ministry of Justice: judicial review begins over criminal legal aid'
Today marks a watershed moment for criminal legal aid as a High Court showdown opens between the Law Society and government over solicitors’ fees. In court 3 of the Royal Courts of Justice, Lord Justice Singh and Mr Justice Jay will hear a judicial review over the government’s decision not to raise criminal legal aid fees by the minimum 15% recommended by the independent criminal legal aid review.
Counsel for the Law Society will argue that by ignoring the independent review’s recommendations, the government’s decision was irrational, lacked evidence-based reasons and breached the constitutional right of access to justice. It has been two years since the Bellamy review recommended a minimum 15% uplift in fees for both solicitors and barristers, as soon as possible, to nurse the criminal legal aid sector back to health. In its final response to the review, published a year later, the Ministry of Justice said fees to solicitor firms would rise by around 11%. The Society has previously told MPs that £30 million would fill the gap between the government’s offer and the review’s 15% recommendation. In February 2023, the director of public prosecutions secured extra cash from HM Treasury to restore parity in fees between prosecution and defence barristers. Treasury chiefs had been told an extra £30m was needed to address the disparity, which arose from the £54m deal that the Ministry of Justice, under justice secretary Brandon Lewis MP, agreed with the criminal bar to end long-running industrial action. ..
'Five commissioners appointed to the Judicial Appointments Commission'
His Majesty The King, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, has approved the appointment of the following as commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) for a term of 3 years from 1 January 2024. Those appointed are: Christopher Bones (lay Commissioner), Anthony Harnden (lay Commissioner), Clare McGlynn (lay Commissioner), Noel Arnold (judicial Commissioner), Uchechi Igbokwe (non-legally qualified judicial Commissioner).
The JAC is an independent body that selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales, and for some tribunals with UK-wide jurisdiction. Candidates are selected on merit, through fair and open competition...
'BSB announces minimum pupillage award from 1 January 2024'
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today announced that the rate for the minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 January 2024 will be £23,078 for 12-month pupillages in London and £21,060 per annum for pupillages outside London. The award is set having regard to the Living Wage Foundation’s hourly rate recommendation, which was announced on 24 October.
Cases
R v Porter & Anor [2023] EWCA Crim 1485
On 10 January 2022, in the Crown Court at Southwark before His Honour Judge Bartle QC and a jury, the applicants Jonathan Porter and Peter Stanley were convicted of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement, contrary to section 328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ("POCA"). In briefest outline, the arrangement was said to involve the laundering of money that emanated from the large scale evasion of duty payable on alcohol...
... The requirement that the property in question must already have the quality of being criminal property by reason of conduct distinct from the conduct alleged to constitute the actus reus of the money laundering offence itself necessarily means that the prosecution in the present case should fail if the prosecution had been submitting that the cash delivered to ETL was criminal property because it was the proceeds of the sale of the duty-evaded-alcohol by the cash and carries. Had that been the case, it would have been on all fours with the facts in Loizou [2005] 2 Cr App R 618, where the paying of cash for the purchase of smuggled cigarettes did not constitute the cash as criminal property: see GH at [22]...
... it is simply not arguable that the case was indistinguishable from Loizou and the other authorities that provide factual examples of circumstances where there was no prior predicate offence. Furthermore, once the true nature of the prosecution case is identified, it becomes clear that it does not matter whether the contents of a particular bag of cash was immediately generated from the sale of duty-evaded-alcohol or other goods. What matters is whether the contents of the bag of cash was being conveyed as part of the arrangement for the laundering of the proceeds of the duty evasion and for the benefit of the smugglers. That is how the case was (correctly) left to the jury...
Other
'Proposals for review of IPP licence termination criteria'
The Parole Board welcomes the proposals recently announced as part of the Victims and Prisoners Bill for reducing the qualifying period for the eligibility for termination of an IPP licence from ten years to three years, and, if not terminated at that point, an automatic termination after two years. These are still proposals in the Victims and Prisoners Bill and the Board is following the passage of the Bill very closely. Under current legislation, the Parole Board has considered 576 referrals made under section 31A of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 to consider terminating the IPP licence, of which 230 have now been terminated. Where the licence has not been terminated, the case is referred again for further consideration in 12 months...
'Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Judicial Guidance'
The use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) throughout society continues to increase, and so does its relevance to the court and tribunal system. All judicial office holders must be alive to the potential risks. Of particular importance, as the guidance document emphasises, is the need to be aware that the public versions of these tools are open in nature and therefore that no private or confidential information should be entered into them. Following consultation with all judicial office holders, this guidance has been produced by a cross-jurisdictional judicial group to assist the judiciary, their clerks, and other support staff on the use of AI...