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
'Better care for mental health patients under major reforms'
New laws will give patients sectioned under the Mental Health Act more dignity and say over their care in long-awaited updates to be introduced in Parliament today (6 November 2024)... Police and prison cells will also no longer be used to place people experiencing a mental health crisis, as well as creating more space for police forces to hold criminal suspects. Instead, patients will be supported to access a suitable healthcare facility that will better support their needs...
Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons and Probation, said: This bill will rightly end the use of prison cells for people who need care under the Mental Health Act and ensure they get the urgent specialist help they need. It will also mean prisoners requiring mental health hospital treatment are transferred quicker, and builds on our ongoing work to ensure prisons make better citizens and not better criminals...
'Revealed: Surge in backlog of wrongful conviction appeals at under-fire watchdog'
The backlog of people left waiting to know whether they will be allowed to reappeal an alleged miscarriage of justice has soared by nearly half in just four years, The Independent can reveal. As the gatekeeper over which cases can be returned to the Court of Appeal, the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) came under fire this year after a damning review found its failures may have kept Andrew Malkinson behind bars for up to 10 extra years on a wrongful conviction of rape.
Fuelling further concern over the vital watchdog’s performance, new figures now reveal that the number of cases awaiting a verdict by the CCRC – all of which involve people alleging they were wrongfully convicted or sentenced – soared from 700 to more than 1,010 in the space of just four years. And the new data disclosed by the Ministry of Justice shows the CCRC has failed to refer more than 33 cases back to the Court of Appeal in any of the past three years – while simultaneously refusing over 1,000 applications every year...
'Courts Minister Heidi Alexander announces fast-track court reform'
Courts Minister Heidi Alexander has announced a major overhaul of the Single Justice Procedure, in a victory for The Standard’s investigation into the troubled fast-track court process. The Labour minister told Parliament on Tuesday she is hauling prosecuting bodies - including train operators, police forces, TV Licensing and the DVLA – in for meetings in the next few weeks for talks on new public interest checks on cases they bring to court. Ms Alexander has already ordered courts officials to redesign the Single Justice Procedure notice sent to defendants, to make it clearer for those charges with criminal offences. And she has promised to confront train operators over “poor practices” in the courts after a string of embarrassing scandals...
The announcement comes after an award-winning Standard investigation exposed the reality of cases passing through the Single Justice Procedure, a courts process mired in secrecy where defendants are convicted and sentenced behind-closed-doors. The investigation found children, parents, and businesses being unlawfully convicted, frail pensioners being taken to court over unpaid bills, and people with severe mental health issues or learning difficulties being fast-tracked to convictions...
'Police should stop using word 'shoplifting' as it trivialises violence, report says'
Police and ministers should stop using the term "shoplifting" as it trivialises crime, an influential group of peers says. In a letter to Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson, the Justice and Home Affairs Committee called for the "outdated" phrase to be phased out. It said the word "serves to trivialise the severity of the offence" - pointing out shop workers now face "unprecedented levels of violence". The group said it should be referred to as shop theft instead. An inquiry carried out by the committee heard there are an estimated 17million cases a year in England and Wales - but less than 3% are actually reported...
'Susannah Hancock to review girls’ placements in youth custody'
The Minister for Youth Justice Sir Nic Dakin has commissioned Susannah Hancock to lead an independent review into the placement of girls in the children and young people’s secure estate from November 2024. The review will consider current placement options and care for girls in the youth estate and report back in 3 months.
There are only a very small number of girls in custody today with latest figures showing only ten girls in custody in England and Wales, less than 2% of all children. Girls in custody are often highly vulnerable with multiple complex needs, which makes placement of girls in the youth estate particularly challenging. Currently the YCS places girls in different settings across the youth custody estate, including secure children’s homes, the new secure school, Oakhill Secure Training Centre and HMYOI Wetherby. In addition to recommendations on the most effective placements options, the review will recommend resources and support required so that staff are best equipped to meet girls’ needs...
Cases
RAI v Guildford Magistrates Court & Anor [2024] EWHC 2801 (Admin)
... On the 2nd August 2023 the applicant was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a requirement to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay compensation of £22,000 to Spelthorne Borough Council and prosecution costs of £6067.88. The surcharge was reduced to nil. The magistrates made a collection order with a payment term of 28 days...
... in the case stated, the magistrates explain that their intention was not for the applicant to pay the sum due within 28 days but for him to pay by instalments according to a repayment plan to be determined by the fines office: "We did not expect the applicant to be able to repay the compensation and costs in one go, and it may have taken some time to repay. Our intention was the applicant would contact the fines office and arrange a suitable repayment plan at a rate he could afford. This repayment plan might be altered in the future if his financial circumstances changed. We therefore made a collection order with payment in 28 days and advised the applicant to contact the fines office to discuss a payment plan. This is standard practice in Surrey and Sussex Local Justice Area."
The practice adopted by the magistrates in this regard is unlawful. It is wrong to fix an amount of compensation without regard to the instalments which are capable of being paid by the offender and the period over which those instalments should be paid but rather to leave those questions for the fines office to sort out (Archbold (2025) 5A-462 and R v Margaret York [2018] EWCA Crim 2754 cited in 5A-462). Section 135 of the Sentencing Act 2020 provides that a court making a compensation order must ask whether it is appropriate. That requires an enquiry, by the magistrates, into whether the compensation order will be oppressive or an undue burden given the offender's means, whether realistically the offender can be expected to repay in the terms proposed and whether the compensation order accords with the nature of the offence and the nature of the offender (R v Ganyo [2011] EWCA Crim 2491). The fines collection officer has power under paragraph 22 of Schedule 5 to the 2003 Act to vary the financial order in the event of a material change of circumstances or of further information becoming available, but the original decision is one for the magistrates, and cannot be delegated. The magistrates did not address the question of how long it would take the applicant to pay off the £22,000 and did not therefore consider whether the payment term was oppressive, an undue burden or otherwise inappropriate...
International
'Justice officials in talks to drop Donald Trump criminal cases'
The US Department of Justice is in talks with the office of special counsel Jack Smith over winding down the two federal cases he is overseeing against president-elect Donald Trump, according to US media reports. Last year, Mr Smith brought charges against Trump over the alleged mishandling of classified documents and his suspected role in attempting to thwart the transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. But the justice department has a long-standing policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted - which would apply when Trump returns to office in January. Trump said during the election campaign that he would fire Mr Smith "within two seconds" if he was returned to office...