Issue 397  10th May 2025

For the first time ever, judges will be able to hand down prison punishments for cowardly criminals who refuse to attend their sentencing hearing. The powers of the Victims’ Commissioner will also be strengthened, empowering them to play a greater role in individual cases and requiring them to produce an independent report on compliance with the Victims’ Code.

Measures in the Bill to force offenders to attend their sentencing will go further than ever before. In recognition that those facing long sentences or Whole Life Orders may not be deterred solely by additional time behind bars, this government is going further and giving judges the power to impose a range of prison sanctions on top of additional years on their sentence to ensure heinous criminals who refuse to attend can be appropriately punished. The Bill also extends the eligibility to all cases in the Crown Court, meaning that all offenders who attempt to evade justice could be subject to tough sanctions – such as confinement to their cell and loss of privileges, like extra time in the gym – as well as up to two more years behind bars. Offenders who have been ordered to attend by a judge but whose disruptive and disrespectful behaviour results in their removal from the courtroom will also be punishable by the same means...

The Bill will also provide greater protection to victims by automatically restricting parental responsibility for vile offenders sentenced for a serious sexual abuse offence against their own child. Predatory parents will be prevented from actively taking steps in the child’s life, including requesting updates about the child’s schooling or seeking to interfere with their activities, better enabling the family to move forwards with their lives...

Criminal legal aid solicitors will be able to have their say on a 12% pay rise announced by the government just before Christmas. Lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood confirmed in December an additional funding boost of up to £92m a year for solicitors working in police stations, courts and prisons. The £92m is on top of the £24m injection into police station and youth court fees. An eight-week consultation on the £92m will open later today. Justice minister Sarah Sackman said the government’s proposals mark a crucial step in rebuilding a sector ‘that has been neglected for too long’...

The Ministry of Justice has turned to some of the biggest names in the tech industry for help to cut crime and ease pressure on the criminal justice system. After the chancellor confirmed in her spring statement £8m from a new £3.25bn ‘transformation fund’ to reduce the amount of ‘form filling’ probation officers have to do, lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood and prisons minister James Timpson yesterday met Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google and other companies to discuss how ‘revolutionary tech’ could tackle violence in prison, better monitor offenders in the community and improve risk assessments...

Two friends who embarked on a “moronic mission” to fell the Sycamore Gap tree with a chainsaw have been found guilty of “mindless” criminal damage. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, cut down the cherished tree, next to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, as Storm Agnes raged in the early hours of 28 September 2023. They saw it as a “bit of a laugh” and afterwards “revelled” in their infamy as the crime made headlines around the world, a jury was told. They thought themselves “big or funny or clever”...

Neither Graham nor Carruthers showed any visible emotion as guilty verdicts were delivered on Friday morning. It took the jury five hours to reach the unanimous verdicts. The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said she would pass sentence on 15 July, by which time pre-sentence reports would be ready. Remanding both men into custody she said they could face “a lengthy period” in jail. After the verdict, the Woodland Trust called on the government to bring in new legislation to ensure important trees are listed for protection like historical buildings are...

It will be a crime to climb on Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square, the government is set to announce on Wednesday. Offenders could face up to three months in prison and fined £1,000 for desecrating the monument to the former prime minister. This is a part of a movement to make it a criminal offence to climb certain UK war memorials. While the statue is not classified as one of the UK’s war memorials, home secretary Yvette Cooper plans to add it to the list of statues and monuments it’ll become illegal to scale.

The new law, contained in the flagship Crime and Policing Bill, is currently progressing through Parliament. Other monuments will include the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, and other tributes to the armed forces across the country...

The government agency responsible for overseeing billions of pounds worth of legal funding has been hit by a cyber security incident. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it is working with the National Crime Agency and National Cyber Security Centre to investigate the data breach...

In a letter sent to law firms last week, which has been seen by Sky News, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) warned it had identified a "security incident". The organisation, which provides legal aid in civil and criminal cases in England and Wales, said "it is possible that financial information relating to legal aid providers may have been accessed by a third party". The LAA said it could not confirm "what, if any, information was accessed", but said it was "possible that payment information may have been accessed". There are nearly 2,000 providers, including solicitors' firms, barristers, not-for-profit organisations and telephone operators, contracted to deliver legal aid services in England and Wales, according to government data. The LAA, which is an executive agency, sponsored by the MoJ, is responsible for administering legal aid funding, which was around £2.3bn in 2023/24...