Issue 359  17th August 2024

Tens of thousands of prosecutions for alleged fare dodging brought by train companies are to be quashed after a court ruling. Four companies including Northern Trains and Greater Anglia unlawfully prosecuted more than 74,000 passengers in England and Wales using the single justice procedure (SJP), which allowed fast-track magistrates hearings on fare evasion cases to be held behind closed doors.

On Thursday, Goldspring said six test cases should be declared a “nullity”, so it was “as if as though the proceedings never existed”. In an 18-page ruling he said: “The implications are wide ranging because the same issue applies to over 74,000 cases where the same unlawful prosecutions took place.” In a summary of his judgment, Goldspring said: “Parliament did not envisage these offences being prosecuted through the SJP. They should never have been brought through that process. This is, to my mind, a paradigm nullity.” He added: “I’m satisfied that the correct approach is to declare each of the prosecutions void and a nullity.” The exact number of those affected is unknown, with a previous hearing told about 75,000 people could have been prosecuted for fare evasion offences under the SJP... Thursday’s ruling affects only the six test cases, with the judge putting in motion plans for the thousands of other prosecutions to be declared void in the same way. He said attempts would be made by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, the DfT and the train operating companies to identify those affected in the coming weeks. He said a list of those affected would aim to be compiled by the end of September, with the cases listed as a bulk hearing by the end of October. He said: “I will simply list them as a bulk listing, no parties required, and then I will then make a similar direction in relation to all these cases affected, so everybody is in the same position.” The judge said by the end of November a team would “begin the work of recovering the money paid and refund the money to individuals. There are discussions ongoing with all the parties about how that may be paid"...

The Metropolitan Police is failing in almost all its areas of work, the police inspectorate has said. The force was assessed across nine areas and graded as "requires improvement" or "inadequate" in seven - including investigating and preventing crime. HM Inspector of Constabulary Lee Freeman said many changes had already been made but not yet resulted in "consistent improvements". The Met said it was "using every available resource to deliver more trust, less crime and high standards".

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspected the force for the 2023-25 period. Mr Freeman highlighted:

• The Met was "inconsistent" in managing sex offenders, with a backlog of visits and risk assessment in some teams
• It has more work to do to make sure it "consistently assesses the level of risk" for all 999 and 101 calls when considering a response
• The force "hasn’t met its goal of reducing the number of outstanding suspects"
• There were "significant issues in the standards of investigation, victim care and investigation management" in the Met's victim service, and "some offences involving vulnerable people aren’t being investigated by suitably trained investigators"

The Met has been in an enhanced monitoring process known as Engage since a previous inspection in 2022. Engage is used when a force is "not succeeding in managing, mitigating or eradicating" a cause of concern. This came after a series of scandals that engulfed Scotland Yard, including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, strip searches of children and failures investigating the deaths of the victims of serial killer Stephen Port. The HMICFRS said the force would remain in the Engage process...

The government has dropped an appeal against a judge’s decision to throw out a contempt case against a woman who stood outside a climate activist trial holding a placard about jury rights. In an email sent on Thursday, a lawyer from the government legal department, led by Richard Hermer, who was recently appointed attorney general, said they had “further considered this case and decided not to pursue the appeal”.

It is the end of an 18-month legal saga for Trudi Warner, who was arrested after she stood outside inner London crown court for 30 minutes holding a sign saying: “Jurors, you have an absolute right to acquit according to your conscience.” Her protest came at the start of a trial of Insulate Britain protesters for a roadblock on the M25, before a judge who had forbidden their mentioning climate breakdown as part of their defence. The judge, Silas Reid, referred Warner’s action to the attorney general to consider contempt of court. Warner faced the possibility of a two-year sentence, but when she appeared before the high court in April a judge threw out the case, saying there was no basis for prosecuting and accusing government lawyers of “mischaracterising” the evidence against her...

A man from Northampton has been convicted after sharing a post advocating violence against a law firm. Tyler Kay, 26, was jailed for 38 months on Friday after pleading guilty at Northampton Crown Court to publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred. He was among the first group of individuals convicted for online activity after last week’s riots, during which certain law firms were named as potential targets...

Kay had written a post on Twitter calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight. He responded to comments posted by others following his message saying it was ‘100% the plan’. Kay, a former IT worker, then reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration firm in Northampton ahead of potential disorder on Wednesday with the message ‘let’s go!!!’. At one point he tagged the Northamptonshire Police in his posts and used his own name and profile picture...

A woman has been awarded £35,000 in compensation from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after her rape case was dropped over claims that she could have had an episode of a rare sleep condition called sexsomnia. Jade Blue McCrossen-Nethercott, 32, contacted police in 2017, when she was 24, after waking up to discover she was half-naked, and with the sense that she had been raped while she slept. Three years later – and days before the man charged with raping her was due to stand trial – lawyers from the CPS said her case was being dropped because two sleep experts said it was possible McCrossen-Nethercott had had an episode of sexsomnia – a medically recognised, but rare, sleep disorder which can cause a person to engage in sexual acts in their sleep, while appearing to be awake and consenting. The case was closed and the defendant acquitted.

In 2022, McCrossen-Nethercott sued the CPS after it admitted her rape case should not have been dropped. Now, the BBC has reported that she has been paid £35,000 by the CPS, which said it had “apologised unreservedly” to her and was “committed to improving every aspect of how life-changing crimes like rape are dealt with”...

When the case was dropped, McCrossen-Nethercott requested all the evidence and was shocked by the weight given to evidence from sleep experts who had never met her. Additional experts said sexsomnia could not be ruled out, but other legal experts said they had only heard of it when being used as a defence by those accused of rape. A spokesperson for the CPS said: “A settlement has been reached with Ms McCrossen-Nethercott, to whom we have apologised unreservedly, and we continue to wish her the very best going forward. We remain positive about the progress being made and recognise there is still a long way to go to improve outcomes for victims, so more people can come forward and report with confidence”