Issue 363  14th September 2024

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed to the Times that Crown Court sitting days are being capped to 105,000 this year – two per cent lower than the previous year when the number of sitting days was uncapped. In 2023/24 there were 107,700 sitting days in the Crown Court. Sitting days were capped in 2019 to 85,000 and then uncapped in 2021/22 to help clear the case backlog.

Commenting, Sam Townend KC, Chair of the Bar Council said: “The short notice implementation of cuts in sitting days is causing real concern in courts up and down the country and will impact on victims, witnesses, and defendants. The government is right that the criminal justice system has been grossly underfunded for over a decade, more so than other public services. However, if we are to have any chance of reducing the court backlogs we need to restore the policy of uncapped sitting days.”

More than 1,700 prisoners have been released early in England and Wales as part of a government scheme to ease overcrowding in prisons. One freed prisoner said conditions in his prison were "disgusting" with "water running black out of the taps" and "rats running around the wings". Not all victims of crime were made aware of their offenders' early release date, the victims' commissioner for England and Wales said, warning that some victims may not have had the opportunity to seek "protective measures". The government said offenders jailed for violent offences with sentences of at least four years, sex offenders and domestic abusers were not eligible for early release...

Under the release scheme, announced in July, offenders in jails in England and Wales serving sentences of fewer than five years will be released on licence into the community after having served 40% of their sentences, instead of 50%. Being released on licence means that offenders must adhere to restrictions for the rest of their sentence, including curfews and tagging, and will be supervised by probation officers. Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the government "had no choice but to do something" about overcrowding. But he warned that it was "inevitable that some of these prisoners will get recalled to custody"...

Joined by anti-knife crime campaigner, and co-founder of the Elba Hope Foundation, Idris Elba, the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime will bring together campaign groups, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted and community leaders, united in their mission to save lives and make Britain a safer place for the next generation. The coalition will also include technology companies, sport organisations as well as partners in the health service, education and the police. It will work with experts to develop an extensive understanding of what causes young people to be dragged into violence, providing vital evidence that will drive government policy and holding the government to account on its knife crime commitments.

At the meeting, the Prime Minister will set out how this mission is personal for him. After years spent working as the Director of Public Prosecutions, he has seen first-hand how violence on our streets can destroy families and leave communities devastated. He will reassure the families that they can have confidence in his determination, and that he has a plan for action, not just talk. He pledged that he will pull the levers needed to halve knife crime, including bringing in new legislation. This work has already begun with legislation underway to ban ninja swords. The government will also strengthen the laws around the online sales of knives, making sure the rules in place to stop dangerous weapons ending up in the hands of young people are enforced...

A knife wholesaler whose weapons have been used in several killings has surrendered more than 35,000 "zombie" blades. Police said the knives and machetes were designed to "kill and maim". Under a government surrender scheme Luton-based Sporting Wholesale will receive £10 compensation for each knife. The company said it would not comment...

Sporting Wholesale imported knives in bulk and sold to retailers. It owns the knife brand Anglo Arms, which the company admitted in 2021 had gained a "reputation with gangs, external". The company said earlier this year that "over the last five to six years knife crime has increased". It added "as a result... we reduced the Anglo Arms range to cover practical and traditional knives only"...

Specialist neighbourhood policing training will be rolled out across the country as the government kicks off its pledge to restore neighbourhood policing. With crimes that blight communities on the rise, like shoplifting, snatch theft and antisocial behaviour, the government has pledged to put thousands more neighbourhood police officers, community support officers and special constables are out patrolling streets and town centres. As a first step towards this goal, the Policing Minister will today announce nationwide rollout of a new training programme for neighbourhood policing officers developed by the College of Policing, to improve standards and consistency across forces.   

The Neighbourhood Policing Pathway, which is currently being trialled and based on evidence of what works, will help officers build on the core skills they need to tackle the issues communities face every day. This will include helping officers build relationships across local communities and give them the skills and confidence they need to solve issues that affect local residents... The College of Policing’s Neighbourhood Policing Programme Career Pathway focuses on problem solving the issues that affect local residents, like drug dealing or drug use in public places, nuisance behaviour on our streets which causes harassment and street drinking. It will also cover community engagement, supporting officers to build relationships which help to gather intelligence, cut crime and develop plans to address local issues. There is also specific training for those who lead neighbourhood teams. The most recent crime figures showed that 35% of people have experienced or witnessed anti-social behaviour in their local community in the last year alongside a 30% annual rise in shoplifting, which remains at a record high...

New changes to the law will force tech firms to clamp down on the sharing of non-consensual intimate images on their platforms as part of a drive to tackle online sexual offending. The offence of sharing intimate images without consent will be classified as the most serious type of online offences under the Online Safety Act, meaning platforms will now have to take steps to proactively remove this material, as well as prevent it from appearing in the first place. If they fail to do so under this new law they could face fines.

The strengthening of the law forms part of the government’s commitment to ensure new and existing technologies are safely developed and help keep people safer online, particularly women and girls with more than one in three women in the UK having experienced abuse online. The changes will help tackle sexual offending and the normalisation of misogynistic material online as part of the government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. The changes will help tackle sexual offending and the normalisation of misogynistic material online as part of the government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade...

The public will be better protected from terrorism under new laws requiring many public venues to improve preparedness against attacks and bring in measures to help keep people safe. The new legislation, also known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ in tribute of Martyn Hett who was killed alongside 21 others in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, will make sure venues across the UK must consider the security of the public, and take steps to protect them from harm. This will deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment to strengthen the security of public events as well as the Prime Minister’s personal promise to Martyn’s mother, Figen Murray, that he would bring in this law.

Under the changes, a new duty will be placed on those responsible for premises and public events, requiring them to take appropriate action to strengthen public safety, with requirements reflecting the size of the venue and the activity taking place...

Oliver Campbell, a man with severe learning difficulties who was jailed for life for the murder of a shopkeeper three decades ago after confessing in police interviews, has had his convictions quashed by the court of appeal. The judgment clearing Campbell, 54, of conspiracy to rob and murder ends what has been described as one of the longest miscarriages of justice in British criminal history, and will throw a new focus on past policing failures and the current approach of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Campbell said: “The fight for justice is finally over after nearly 34 years. I can start my life an innocent man.” Campbell, who suffered a severe brain injury as a baby, was convicted at the age of 21 at the Old Bailey in 1991 of the murder of a London off-licence keeper, Baldev Hoondle, after confessing during the 11th of 14 police interviews, some of which were carried out without a solicitor. The court of appeal heard from expert witnesses that Campbell had an IQ of 73 and scored “abnormally high” for acquiescence, with an “extreme tendency to just, when in doubt, say yes”...