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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
'Nottingham attacker Valdo Calocane's 'unduly lenient' sentence to be referred to Court of Appeal'
The sentence of the Nottingham attacker who stabbed two students and a caretaker to death will be referred to the Court of Appeal after the attorney general found it to be "unduly lenient". Valdo Calocane was sentenced to be detained at a high security hospital for fatally stabbing Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, in June 2023. The victims' families criticised the sentence, as well as authorities they say could have helped prevent the tragedy. Calocane, who tried to kill three others by knocking them over in a van on the same night as the stabbings, was handed the sentence after prosecutors accepted his manslaughter plea rather than pursuing a murder conviction.
'Post Office victims set to be cleared under new law'
Hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal are set to have their names cleared under new legislation planned by the government. The law is expected to come into effect by the end of July and will apply to convictions in England and Wales. It will apply to convictions meeting specific criteria and is expected to clear the majority of victims. The government said the possible exoneration of some genuinely guilty of crimes was "a price worth paying"...
Announcing the plans, Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake said the legislation was likely to "exonerate a number of people who were, in fact, guilty of a crime". But he said: "The government accepts that this is a price worth paying in order to ensure that many innocent people are exonerated." Some 700 people were prosecuted by the Post Office. Another 283 cases were brought by other agencies including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Prosecutions by the DWP will not be quashed under the new law.
Mr Hollinrake said the new legislation would overturn all convictions that met certain criteria. It will only cover:
- convictions from the Post Office and CPS
- "relevant offences", such as theft and false accounting
- sub-postmasters and their employees or family members
- cases where the offence took place during the time that the Horizon system (and its pilots) was in operation
- cases where the convicted person was working in a Post Office that was using the Horizon system software (including relevant pilot schemes)
- cases in England and Wales
Mr Hollinrake added he recognised the "constitutional sensitivity" of the planned legislation, but added it did not set a precedent for the future relationship between the government, Parliament and the judiciary. "The scale and circumstances of this prosecutorial misconduct demands an exceptional response," he said. "We are keen to ensure that the legislation achieves its goal of bringing prompt justice to all of those who were wrongfully convicted as a result of the scandal, followed by rapid financial redress."
Inspectors lay out CPS recruitment and retention difficulties - Legal Futures
A quarter of the 180 pupil barristers who joined the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) trainee scheme between 2016 and 2022 left within 12 months of qualifying, a report by Criminal Justice Joint Inspection (CJJI) has found.
The joint inspectors also said a “key barrier” to the reduction of the Crown Court backlog and the high caseloads of CPS prosecutors was lack of capacity at the independent Bar, where “issues around pay and the impact of the pandemic” led to many criminal barristers leaving the profession.
'Pupillage offers hit record high'
The number of pupillages on offer to aspiring barristers has hit a record high, latest figures from the Bar Council reveal. In 2022/23, there were 638 pupillages advertised on the central Pupillage Gateway, 10.4% more than the 578 advertised in 2021/22. It is the highest number since figures began in 2018/2019, when 515 pupillages were advertised, and represents a recovery from the pandemic slump...
The number of pupillages available at the criminal bar saw an even greater increase than elsewhere, with 218 pupillages advertised, a 21.1% increase from 2021/2022. It follows criminal barristers taking industrial action in 2022 over rates for criminal legal aid work...
'Tougher laws to protect children from sexual abuse'
Children will be better protected from sexual predators under plans being brought forward by the Home Secretary today (Wednesday 21 February). There will be a legal requirement for anyone in regulated activity relating to children in England, including teachers or healthcare professionals, to report it if they know a child is being sexually abused. Those who fail to report child sexual abuse they are aware of, falling short of their legal duties, face being barred from working with young people. Anyone who actively protects child sexual abusers – by intentionally blocking others from reporting or covering up the crime – could go to prison for 7 years...
In a move to further protect people from sexual predators, the police are being given greater powers to stop registered sex offenders from changing their name if they think they still pose a risk to their communities... Under the proposed changes, police will be able to issue a notice to sex offenders who continue to spark concern blocking them from changing or attempting to change their name on official documents such as passports and driving licences without their approval...
'Consultation on proposed guidelines for aggravated vehicle taking and other motoring offences'
The Sentencing Council is consulting on six new and revised sentencing guidelines for motoring offences in England and Wales. The draft guidelines cover offences committed by people driving vehicles without the owner’s consent, vehicle registration fraud and driver disqualification. The proposed aggravated vehicle taking guidelines cover death caused, injury caused, dangerous driving and vehicle or property damage caused. The proposed new guideline for vehicle registration fraud (offences covers, for example forging, altering or fraudulently using vehicle number plates. The proposed overarching guideline for driver disqualification brings together the Council’s existing guidance on the principles to follow when imposing a disqualification.
There are currently sentencing guidelines for magistrates’ courts for aggravated vehicle taking offences involving accident causing injury, dangerous driving and causing damage to vehicle/property published in 2008, but no guidance for Crown Court. The proposed guidelines will apply to both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court...
Other
'The unprecedented case of a migrant manslaughter trial'
A migrant who was navigating an inflatable boat when it started sinking in the Channel has been found responsible for the death of four people. The unprecedented case raised complex questions about whether the asylum seeker who piloted the boat could be blamed for the drownings, in 2022. Ibrahima Bah was convicted after two trials at Canterbury Crown Court - the first time a migrant who navigated an inflatable has been found responsible for harm caused to other occupants...
Jurors could convict Bah of manslaughter only after considering a number of critical legal questions as to whether he could be blamed for the deaths. If the jury thought Bah might have felt forced into steering the dinghy, then he could not be found guilty of the manslaughters or facilitating illegal immigration - a lesser charge he also faced. If jurors believed Bah had freely gone to sea, they could convict him of manslaughter only if sure that reasonable people would have realised that the journey risked death and, crucially, his steering had contributed to the tragedy. The jurors could also consider whether Bah was guilty of causing the deaths through gross negligence - a form of homicide that applies to cases where someone has a clear duty of care to others who were fatally harmed...
'In focus: Solicitors cool over new director's plans to transform the SFO'
Nick Ephgrave last week set out an ambitious transformation plan, including speeding up cases and improving disclosure. But solicitors specialising in white-collar crime remain sceptical. In his first public speech, the new director of the much-criticised Serious Fraud Office spoke about borrowing investigative techniques from the policing world, the burden of disclosure – and paying whistleblowers to speed up the agency’s work. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute last week, Nick Ephgrave said that he is a ‘law enforcer’ rather than a lawyer like his predecessors. If the SFO was ‘serious about cases being quicker’, the organisation would ‘need to focus on intelligence and evidence’...
Solicitors specialising in white-collar crime reacted coolly to Ephgrave’s speech. Richard Cannon, partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, said: ‘For an agency that has long struggled with issues of transparency and disclosure, covert tactics could be an unwelcome addition to the organisation’s playbook. If the agency is to regain public confidence and trust it must work to ensure there is greater transparency in investigations and prosecutions. This path is fraught with danger.’ John Binns, white-collar crime partner at BCL Solicitors, said it is ‘crucial’ the SFO uses methods open to it ‘wisely’. He added: ‘The SFO’s toolbox has never been more packed, with compulsory disclosure, deferred prosecution, and “failure to prevent” offences.’ Robert Dalling, partner in investigations, compliance and defence at Jenner & Block, said: ‘The question of disclosure has been a thorn in the side of the SFO for many years. It’s hard to see how there can be meaningful change without significantly more resources for the SFO, bearing in mind the size of the matters they prosecute’...