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
'Survivors of rape and serious sexual assault given the right to have cases reviewed'
Victims of rape and serious sexual assaults who face their cases being dropped by prosecutors will, for the first time, be given the right to have it reviewed by a different prosecutor, as part of the Government’s pledge to halve violence against women and girls and its Plan for Change... The pilot, which launches this week, is starting in the West Midlands, with the intention for it to be rolled out nationwide if found to be successful...
When a prosecutor identifies a case which they believe is eligible for the pilot, they escalate to a senior manager and the review timetable will be set and a second reviewer found. A letter will be sent to the victim letting them know of the proposal to bring to the prosecution to an end and explaining why. They will then be given the chance to have that decision reviewed and given a set period to respond. If they request a review, the aim is that this will be completed within 20 working days. Where a case does not qualify for the pilot, victims will be still be able to request a review through the standard VRR scheme. Once a review is complete, a Local Case Management Panel will approve the decision either to proceed with the prosecution or to offer no evidence. The victim will be informed of the final decision. The pilot, which launches this week, is starting in the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit of CPS West Midlands. The pilot has been designed to assess how the flexibility of offering an earlier review can be operated by the CPS. Care has also been taken to balance the interests of the victim, the defendant and the prosecutorial independence of CPS. This means that the CPS will decide when its internal review process is complete and when no evidence will be offered...
'Dame Vera Baird DBE KC appointed as Interim Chair of the CCRC'
His Majesty the King, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, has approved the appointment of Dame Vera Baird DBE KC as the Interim Chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). The appointment will commence on 9 June 2025 and will end on 8 December 2026. The CCRC Chair role has been vacant since Helen Pitcher’s resignation on 14 January 2025.
The Lord Chancellor has requested that Dame Vera carry out a thorough review of the operation of the CCRC, to increase public confidence in the organisation and the important work it undertakes investigating potential miscarriages of justice.
'Magistrates Association recommends long service medal and multi-year recruitment'
A long service medal, formal tracking of magistrates’ volunteering hours, and stronger engagement between magistrates and senior leadership are some of the recommendations put forward by the Magistrates Association to improve the attractiveness of the role. A report published today, Magistrates matter: a plan to ensure magistrates are valued, appreciated and recognised, provides seven recommendations based on members’ experiences...
The seven recommendations include establishing a ‘clear multi-year recruitment and retention strategy for the magistracy across all roles’, developing a ‘structured, accessible system’ to capture magistrates’ volunteering hours to ensure contributions are properly recorded, establishing a volunteer charter to codify magistrates’ rights, responsibilities and expectations and introducing an annual attitude survey. Other recommendations include strengthening communication and consultation between magistrates, HMCTS, the Ministry of Justice and senior judicial leadership throughout ‘structured engagement opportunities’, introducing a long service medal which would be awarded to magistrates after 10 years of service and expanding local recognition events...
'Protective body armour for prison officers in high-security settings'
Frontline prison officers working in the highest risk areas of the prison estate will be issued protective body armour under swift Government action to improve their safety, the Lord Chancellor announced today (Tuesday 3 June)...
Following the horrific attack on three officers at HMP Frankland on 12 April, the Prison Service commissioned a snap review into whether protective body armour – also known as stab-proof vests – should be rolled out to staff. The Lord Chancellor has now confirmed new protective vests will be made mandatory for prison officers working in Close Supervision Centres and Separation Centres which hold the most dangerous offenders in the estate. Officers working with prisoners held in segregation units within the high-security estate will also benefit from the rollout...
'Thousands of criminal cases collapsing due to missing or lost police evidence'
Thousands of criminal cases - including some of the most serious violent and sexual offences - are collapsing every year because of lost, damaged or missing evidence, the BBC has found. More than 30,000 prosecutions in England and Wales collapsed between October 2020 and September 2024, data from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reveals. They include 70 homicides and more than 550 sexual offences. Police chiefs say not all the cases relate to lost evidence and the figures include situations where officers may not be able to find an expert witness or get a medical statement. However, it follows a series of damning reports about how police forces are storing evidence...
Cases
Jobson v Director of Public Prosecutions [2025] EWHC 1385 (Admin)
... On 26 April 2024 the District Judge stated the following case for consideration by this court: "Was I correct to find that a low value shop theft is not time barred under the provisions of section 127 [of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 ("the MCA")] in circumstances when the proceedings are brought outside of the 6 months' time limit for summary only offences?"...
Accordingly, the District Judge was right to decide this case as he did for the reasons he gave. Candlish is authority for the proposition that low-value shoplifting is an indictable offence unless and until the Magistrates' Court decides it is not. The limitation provisions in s.127 do not apply. On that basis the answer to the question stated by the District Judge is "yes" and this appeal is dismissed.
Frederick Ayinde, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Haringey [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin)
... The referrals arise out of the actual or suspected use by lawyers of generative artificial intelligence tools to produce written legal arguments or witness statements which are not then checked, so that false information (typically a fake citation or quotation) is put before the court...
In the context of legal research, the risks of using artificial intelligence are now well known. Freely available generative artificial intelligence tools, trained on a large language model such as ChatGPT are not capable of conducting reliable legal research. Such tools can produce apparently coherent and plausible responses to prompts, but those coherent and plausible responses may turn out to be entirely incorrect. The responses may make confident assertions that are simply untrue. They may cite sources that do not exist. They may purport to quote passages from a genuine source that do not appear in that source. Those who use artificial intelligence to conduct legal research notwithstanding these risks have a professional duty therefore to check the accuracy of such research by reference to authoritative sources, before using it in the course of their professional work (to advise clients or before a court, for example). Authoritative sources include the Government’s database of legislation, the National Archives database of court judgments, the official Law Reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales and the databases of reputable legal publishers...
We would go further however. There are serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system if artificial intelligence is misused. In those circumstances, practical and effective measures must now be taken by those within the legal profession with individual leadership responsibilities (such as heads of chambers and managing partners) and by those with the responsibility for regulating the provision of legal services. Those measures must ensure that every individual currently providing legal services within this jurisdiction (whenever and wherever they were qualified to do so) understands and complies with their professional and ethical obligations and their duties to the court if using artificial intelligence. For the future, in Hamid hearings such as these, the profession can expect the court to inquire whether those leadership responsibilities have been fulfilled.
Other
'Victims and Prisoners Act 2024: changes to non-disclosure agreements'
New legislation will come into effect on 1 October 2025 which affects confidentiality clauses, also known as non-disclosure agreements. This guidance explains the changes and what they will mean for businesses and individuals who use non-disclosure agreements. These changes were made through the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (section 17), and they extend and apply to England and Wales only...
The legislative change makes clear in statute that non-disclosure agreements cannot be enforced insofar as they seek to prevent victims from reporting the crime to the police. The changes also extend these protections to certain other disclosures, including those necessary for victims to access confidential advice and support needed to cope and recover from the impact of crime. Non-disclosure agreements signed on or after 1 October 2025 will be legally unenforceable to the extent that they seek to prevent such disclosures...