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
'The key measures in the King's Speech'
King Charles has outlined the government's law-making plans for the coming year in a speech to the House of Lords. The speech gave an outline of 37 bills ministers want to pass in the next parliamentary session, including eight previously introduced to Parliament. But the event was overshadowed by the leadership speculation that continues to surround Sir Keir Starmer. Here is a summary of the main points...
- A wide-ranging Police Reform Bill will deliver plans to create new, larger forces in England and Wales, and create a new national force to investigate the "most serious crime"
- Controversial plans to scale back the use of jury trials in England and Wales are contained in a Courts Modernisation Bill
- A Tackling State Threats Bill contains new powers to ban state-linked groups such as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)
- In the wake of the 2024 Southport attack, a new National Security Bill will criminalise sharing material that "glorifies, trivialises, or normalises" serious violence
- The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, is an existing bill to create a new duty of candour for public officials
'Met to send 4,000 officers to police rival London protests'
The Metropolitan Police has warned that it is preparing for potential violence and hate speech crimes across two protests in London this Saturday. More than 4,000 officers will be drafted in to police the rival events - possibly one of the largest protest deployment in decades - amid fears that far-right demonstrators could clash with pro-Palestine marchers if the two groups are not kept apart. In addition, tens of thousands of football fans are also expected at Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup Final, adding further pressures on the capital's police. Scotland Yard said the risks meant it had to impose the "highest degree of control". Measures the Met is planning include the first authorisation of live facial recognition cameras at a demonstration. The force added it was taking the rare step of putting its armoured vehicles on standby. Drones will also be deployed to scan for suspects, and all officers will be equipped with riot gear...
The £4.5m plan includes strict conditions on the routes of both events, making organisers personally responsible for the conduct of speakers on stages and authorising officers to use enhanced public order powers to stop and search potential troublemakers and disperse them out of central London...
'CPS sets out prosecutorial approach to large-scale protests this weekend'
PROSECUTORS have been issued new legal guidance on the use of offensive banners, slogans, chants or symbols to recognise the changing national and international context and increase in hate crime ahead of significant planned protests in London this weekend. The guidance puts a particular focus on prosecutors to assess the ability for protest materials to stir up hatred – this also includes whether the actions are reaching a wider audience beyond the people physically present – for example chants and banners being captured on social media. Lawyers will be working alongside the Met Police to offer real time charging advice to officers and CPS Direct – the Crown Prosecution Service’s out of hours service – will also be on hand to make sure that protestors who cross the line into criminality face swift arrest...
The new legal guidance on chants, banners, signs, slogans, and symbols during protests has been added to existing CPS Protests guidance on ‘Offences during Protests, Demonstrations or Campaigns’ to recognise the changing international context, given heightened public concerns about hate crime and public order, particularly cases involving antisemitic chants...
'Appointments: 12 May 2026'
The King has been pleased to approve the following appointments:
- ... Natalie Fleet MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office
- Catherine Atkinson MP as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice
Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, Jess Phillips MP, Alex Davies-Jones MP and Dr Zubir Ahmed MP have left the Government.
'Sentencing Council publishes new guideline for sentencing hare coursing offences'
The Sentencing Council has published a new guideline for offences related to hare coursing which will come into effect on 1 June 2026. The guideline, which has been published following a 12-week public consultation, is designed to ensure courts fully recognise the harm these offences cause when determining their seriousness. In line with the new statutory process, the Lady Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor have consented to its issue as a definitive guideline...
Four offences associated with hare coursing are covered, reflecting changes introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022:
- Trespass with intent to search for or pursue hares with dogs etc
- Being equipped for searching for or pursuing hares with dogs etc
- Trespass in the daytime in search of game
- Taking or destroying game by night
The guideline includes a range of aggravating factors that reflect the realities of hare coursing activity, including the use of social media to record and promote offences, offending in the presence of children, and breach of a community protection notice — reinforcing the role these orders play in disrupting hare coursing. Courts are also signposted to two new orders introduced by the PCSC Act: a Dog Disqualification Order and a Recovery Order. These allow courts to disqualify offenders from owning a dog, and order offenders to repay the costs of a dog's seizure and detention.
'CA overturns referral of KC for contempt hearing over closing speech'
The Court of Appeal has set aside a Crown Court judge’s referral of a KC for contempt of court proceedings after finding the High Court did not have the jurisdiction to pursue them... The Court of Appeal found that while “a superior court of record has power at common law to deal summarily with contempt in the face of the court”, and any court may refer such a case to the Attorney General, there was not a third option allowing a Crown Court judge to refer it directly to the High Court... A Judicial Office Advisory Note on contempt in the face of the court was also wrong to include this option, the court went on... he court set aside the directions of Edis LJ and granted a declaration that the Administrative Court and/or the Divisional Court “have no jurisdiction, in the absence of an application by the Attorney General, to consider the allegation of contempt against Mr Menon”. That left the matter back with Johnson J. He may, subject to any further points made on behalf of Mr Menon, refer the barrister to the Attorney General or the Bar Standards Board, the court said.
'New tools available to sentencers'
The Council has added two new calculators to its website. The calculators will assist judges and magistrates to calculate guilty plea reductions in custody cases. There are two guilty plea calculators, one for sentences expressed in days and weeks and one for sentences expressed in months and years. Both calculators are accessible from the side panel when using any offence specific sentencing guideline, and from the top navigation under ‘Guidelines and tools’...
'Magistrate dialled into court from Portugal home, claims whistleblowing official'
A court official who says he was sacked for whistleblowing about a magistrate who was dialling in from his home Portugal is suing the Ministry of Justice for unfair dismissal. Chris John said he was “shocked” to find magistrate Phil Taylor was working from his home near the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to decide on criminal cases at Reading Magistrates’ Court. The court legal adviser raised concerns about the unusual work-from-home set-up, arguing Mr Taylor’s decisions that day on low-level crimes in the Single Justice Procedure (SJP), as well as thousands of other convictions and sentences he has overseen remotely, could be rendered unlawful and invalid.
Mr John took his complaints to Justice Secretary David Lammy and Courts Minister Sarah Sackman, while senior judges and officials investigated the matter and concluded that magistrates should not dial in to hearings from outside the UK. However, Mr John said he faced resistance to the idea of a wider investigation into SJP practices, including using MS Teams links to administer justice and magistrates dialling in to court from unknown locations. He says he was “bullied” and shunned at work after refusing to sit on SJP sessions that he believes are unlawful, and argues he was ultimately sacked in a campaign of “retaliation due to my whistleblowing”...
'Enhanced juror support considered 'valuable' addition to justice system despite low uptake'
A pilot providing ‘enhanced support’ for jurors has had ‘low but meaningful’ uptake – despite less than 0.5% of jurors taking part, according to a newly published evaluation. The Enhanced Support for Juror pilot included the implementation of the Juror Assistance Programme (JAP), which allowed jurors to access tailored mental health support after completing jury service, and End of Trial Intervention (ETI), a structured debriefing session led by trained court staff which included the option for jurors to take part in a ‘decompression’ session. The pilot was run across 15 Crown courts, including Birmingham Crown Court, Carlisle Combined Court, and Central Criminal Court, from October 2024 to March 2025. The two initiatives ‘aimed to provide tailored support for those jurors who experience upset, or distress as a result of participating in jury service’. Of 17,811 jurors, only 24 (0.13%) accessed the JAP, 13 (0.07%) were referred to counselling and 10 (0.06%) attended at least one counselling session.
The report said: ‘Jurors were more likely to stay behind and decompress after serious trials; some courts reported up to 1 hour of decompression time.’ A total 24 calls were made to the 24/7 helpline with 13 referrals to counselling, one onward GP referral and 10 non-referrals. Of the jurors referred to counselling, they attended, on average, three out of the available six sessions. Court staff and jurors viewed both the JAP and ETI as a ‘valuable and overdue addition to the justice system, enhancing the court’s duty of care’, the report said. It added: ‘Whilst uptake was low, it demonstrated early indications of measurable improvements in participants’ mental health...
Cases
Re Rajiv Menon KC (Contempt Proceedings Against) [2026] EWCA Civ 573
The central issue before us is whether the High Court has jurisdiction to deal with an alleged contempt in the face of the Crown Court referred to the High Court by the trial judge without the intervention of the Attorney General or Solicitor General. In December 2025 a trial was taking place in the Crown Court at Woolwich before Johnson J (“the trial judge”). Six defendants were charged with offences arising out of an incident on 6 August 2024 at a factory in Filton, Bristol, occupied and operated by Elbit Systems Ltd. Rajiv Menon KC was leading counsel representing Charlotte Head, the first defendant named on the indictment...
... We do not underestimate the difficulties with which the trial judge was faced in the course of the trial. There was no ideal solution. No criticism could possibly be made of his decision not to attempt to take summary action during the trial. It would have been open to him to refer the alleged contempt to the Attorney General, or to the Bar Standards Board as an alleged breach of the Code of Conduct. Both processes are likely to lead to delay where there was a need to ensure that there was compliance with orders of the court, particularly in the light of the imminent retrial. He would have had jurisdiction to refer the alleged contempt to another High Court judge sitting as a judge of the Crown Court if a summary process was thought to be required. But in our view he had no jurisdiction to make a direct reference to the High Court; nor would the Divisional Court have jurisdiction to deal with the case following the direct reference...
R v HGF [2026] EWCA Crim 570
... The respondent says that, when he was confronted by C's father, he strenuously denied the offence. He stated that C had been flirting with him earlier in the evening. He then contacted the police and complained that a false allegation was being made against him by C. He told the call handler in terms that "there will be cameras in the lobby downstairs. All night she has been coming on to us … and she came into my room". On his arrest, the respondent repeated that there was CCTV that would vindicate him. In his interview under caution at the police station, he again repeated his contention that it was C who had been behaving in a sexualised manner towards him and that the CCTV of the communal areas of the hotel would support that contention. The interviewing officer responded as follows: "We have got her statement and we will go to the hotel, and we will look at the CCTV and trace the interactions between the two of you prior and after, okay? And then we will take it from there". Despite those assurances, the police did not obtain any CCTV footage from the hotel...
... On the particular facts before her, the judge here concluded that this was an exceptional case where it was right to exercise to stay the proceedings on the ground of fairness. In our judgment, and adopting the approach set out in the authorities above, she was entitled to reach that decision. It is right to say that there was evidence in support of the prosecution's case. That came primarily from C herself. The photographs of red marks to her neck provide some corroboration of her account of her injuries. The prosecution could also point to the early complaint made by C to her father and then to the police. All of that evidence would remain available to the jury.
However, there was plainly potential evidence to contrary effect that required investigation. The very first response of the respondent to the allegation against him was to call the police and urge them to obtain the CCTV footage in the hotel because he said that it would prove that it was C who was behaving flirtatiously, not him. The police, presumably recognising the potential forensic value of those CCTV recordings, agreed to do so. They failed to do so, and that was a serious dereliction of duty. This was not evidence of marginal or secondary value to the police investigation. It was central to the case, which turned on credibility. Given the nature of the allegations and the fact that C and the respondent had been in each other's company for some hours earlier that day, there would be no useful forensic evidence. There would be no independent witness who could speak to what occurred in the bedroom. There was no CCTV camera inside the bedroom where the alleged incident occurred, nor, as it turned out, in the corridor outside that room. If C's allegations were disputed, as they were, there was no prospect of any independent or corroborating evidence as to the alleged assault. The best independent evidence would be the CCTV footage of C and the respondent together in the common parts of the hotel shortly before the alleged incident is said to have occurred. This was not a case where the prosecution failed to obtain evidence which might or might not have supported a prosecution. This was a case where the prosecution failed to obtain evidence which might have weakened the prosecution case – and was plainly relevant.
It follows that this was not a case where the relevant question was that posed in Ebrahim, namely, whether there was sufficient credible evidence, apart from the missing evidence, which, if believed, would justify a safe conviction. Rather, the relevant question here was that posed in Ali, namely: was the missing evidence important material by which C's credibility could be assessed? Implicitly, the judge concluded that it was. In our judgment, that is the answer to what we regard as the primary (third) ground of appeal, to the effect that the judge failed to have regard to the remaining credible evidence which the jury would have been entitled to assess against the fact that the CCTV recordings were unavailable. That, as we have identified, is not the point at issue. What was critical was not the strength of the remaining prosecution evidence, but the prejudice suffered by the respondent in being denied the means of challenging that evidence. It was conceded that the police were under a duty to obtain the CCTV recordings, and, as we have indicated, they failed in that regard. The result was to deprive the respondent of his primary means of challenging C's allegation and accordingly to occasion the defence serious prejudice...
Other
'Criminal courts: building on progress, rising to the challenge'
The criminal courts are at the heart of the justice system. In 2024-25, our Crown and magistrates’ courts handled over 1.3 million cases. Behind each one of those cases is a person – a victim, a witness, a defendant – often going through one of the most difficult periods of their life. That drives everything we do. Craig Robb, Deputy Director and Crime Live Service Owner at HMCTS, reflects on the past year in the criminal courts – what’s been achieved, what needs to change and why he remains confident in the direction of travel...