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
King's Counsel Appointments
The appointments of 105 new King’s Counsel (also known as silk) are announced today. These appointments are made by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, following consideration by the independent King’s Counsel (KC) Selection Panel.
'Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana jailed for 52 years for murder of three girls'
The Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years for the “ferocious” and “sadistic” knife rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. The 18-year-old refused to appear in the dock as the judge said he would probably “never be released and he will be in custody for all his life” for the “savage” murder of three young girls and attempted murder of eight others, as well as two adults who tried to save them...
Sentencing Rudakubana to life with a minimum term of 52 years in prison – the longest jail term ever given to someone his age – the judge, Mr Justice Julian Goose, said the triple killer would only be released if a Parole Board believes he is no longer a threat to the public, but he added: “It is likely he will never be released and he will be in custody for all of his life”. Rudakubana could not be sentenced to a whole-life order – meaning he would never be released from prison – because he was nine days short of his 18th birthday when he carried out the attack at the Hart Space in Southport on 29 July last year. The teenager, who was 17 when he carried out the attack, will be almost 70 before he is considered for release...
'Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme request received for Axel Rudakubana'
Axel Rudakubana was sentenced today to custody for life with a minimum term of 52 years less time on remand after he was convicted of 16 offences including the murder of three young girls, the attempted murder of 10 other people including 8 children, as well as the production of ricin and possession of an Al-Qaeda training manual. His sentence has been referred to the Law Officers under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. Only one request is needed for a sentence to be considered. The Law Officers have 28 days from sentencing to consider the case and decide whether to refer it to the Court of Appeal...
'Government seeks views over computer evidence in the criminal justice system'
The role of computer evidence in criminal cases is to be examined to prevent future miscarriages following the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters in the Post Office Horizon scandal. The Ministry of Justice today announced a call for evidence on how evidence derived from IT systems should be treated in criminal trials. Currently, there is a presumption that computers work correctly and, unless there is evidence to the contrary, any evidence generated by software is accurate. The wrongful convictions of hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters in the Post Office Horizon scandal highlighted the ‘limitations’ of such a presumption, the government said. The MoJ said ‘faults in the Post Office’s accounting software system proved the fallibility of digital evidence and the potential for devastating miscarriages of justice if evidence is not thoroughly interrogated’.
The expert review aims to build on government efforts to restore public confidence in policing and in the criminal justice system. The 12-week call for evidence asks for views from across the justice system and beyond on the presumption that computers always work correctly, as well as how computer evidence should be defined and what could fall into scope of any change to the law...
'Biggest fraud crackdown in a generation'
Welfare fraudsters who cheated the taxpayer out of £7 billion last year could be banned from driving if they repeatedly fail to reimburse the public and repay their debt. As part of new legislation set to be introduced in Parliament today to deliver the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation, benefit cheats could be disqualified from driving for periods of up to two years if they refuse all opportunities to repay the money they owe.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be able to apply to the court with the justification to suspend fraudsters from driving, provided the debt is £1,000 or over and frequent requests to repay the debt have been ignored. DWP’s serious organised crime investigators are also expected to be handed powers to apply to a court for search warrants. It means that for the first time, they will be able to support Police and search premises and seize items such as computers and smartphones as evidence against fraudsters... DWP will also have the power to recover money directly from bank accounts of those not on benefits or in PAYE employment who owe the Department and refuse to pay up, despite having the means to do so. The Bill will allow DWP to request bank statements to prove these debtors have sufficient funds to fairly repay what they owe. However, DWP will not have direct access to people’s bank accounts...
'Domestic abuse victims 'failed' by criminal justice system, damning commissioner's report says'
Victims of domestic abuse are being failed by a criminal justice system that is not up to the job, a damning report by the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales has said. Dame Nicole Jacobs warned the government's "ambitious" target of halving violence against women and girls within a decade will "fall flat" unless it addresses the criminal justice response to the issue.
Around 2.3 million people suffered domestic abuse in the 12 months to last March, according to the Crime Survey of England and Wales, but the report said less than a fifth of victims report to police, because of a system "ill-equipped to respond to the enormity of the challenge". Of the 851,000 offences recorded by police in England and Wales during that period, less than 73,000 were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and around 49,000 resulted in charges, leading to less than 39,000 offenders being found guilty. In other words, the report said: "Just 5% of police-recorded domestic abuse offences reach conviction; and less than a fifth of victims have the confidence to report to the police in the first place. Faith in the system is at an all-time low"...
Cases
R v Shagufa Sheikh & Ors [2025] EWCA Crim 38
... The focus of the appeal is upon the construction of section 5(1)(c) and (d) of the DVCVA. It is argued that the trial judge, Lambert J, misconstrued section 5 so as to lead her into error in rejecting the submissions of no case to answer made on behalf of the four named appellants or, alternatively, that it led her subsequently to fail to direct the jury appropriately as to its application to the facts...
Mr Green argues that section 5(1)(d)(i) of DVCVA must be strictly construed to mean that the defendant (“D”), who was not the perpetrator of the unlawful act referred to in section 5(1)(c) must be proved to have been, or ought to have been, aware of the significant risk of such harm being caused to the victim (“V”) by the unlawful act which resulted in V’s death or serious harm. That is, he stresses the definite article ‘the’ and the parsing of section 5(1)(c) which associates the significant risk with the unlawful act. He does not go so far to say that a non-perpetrator D did or should have foreseen the precise modus operandi of the unlawful act, but rather the ‘category of offence’. Therefore, if non-perpetrator D was or should have been aware of the risk of serious harm created by a physical assault, then regardless of how a subsequent physical assault which led to serious physical harm was occasioned, whether by fist, or feet or ‘conventional’ weapon and whatever the manner in which it was carried out, whether by blow, or incision or smothering, section 5(1)(d)(i) would be satisfied. However, if the unlawful act was committed by any other means, for example by the administration of a noxious substance or gross neglect, then this would not incriminate a non-perpetrating D pursuant to section 5 of the DVCVA, for the risk created by that type of unlawful act was not reasonably foreseeable...
We have little hesitation in rejecting Mr Green’s arguments on the construction of section 5(1)(d)(i). Section 5(1) defines the offence and, read in its entirety as is clearly intended, indicates the scope of principal and secondary liability. It is a sine qua non of the offence that ‘the unlawful act’ which leads to death or serious physical harm has already occurred; see subsection (1)(a). Subsection (1)(d) (i) – (iii) are applicable to ‘secondary’, non-perpetrating, Ds’. Subsections (1)(d)(i) and (1)(d)(ii) specifically refer to ‘the risk’ referred to in section 5(1)(c), which is ‘the risk of serious physical harm.’ It is subsection 1(d)(iii) which delineates a non-perpetrating D’s culpability by reference to the ‘circumstances’ in which the risk has been realised, and whether it is ‘of a kind’ We agree with Mr Smith, the emphasis in section 5(1)(d)(i) is upon the reasonable foreseeability of the risk of further serious physical harm, or death, being occasioned to V, based upon the fact of previous unlawful conduct by a member of the same household. We also agree with him that section 5(1) (d)(iii) focuses on ‘circumstances’ and not ‘category of offence’...
Other
Sentencing Remarks in R v Axel Rudakubana
Watch the sentencing judge's remarks as Axel Rudakubana is jailed for at least 52 years over the Southport attacks...