News
'Dwindling number of magistrates'
Magistrates are facing a recruitment crisis, with the need to hire another 9,000 in the next ten years “just to stand still”.
John Bache, chairman of the Magistrates Association, told The Times that there were now 16,000 magistrates in England and Wales, half as many as 20 years ago, and that half would retire in the next decade.
Phones in Prison Cells Extended
Thousands of prisoners will be able to make calls from their cells, as part of government plans to reduce violence and crime in prisons in England and Wales. The move is part of a £30m package of measures to be announced later today by Justice Secretary David Gauke.
The scheme, already in place at 20 prisons, is to be extended to a further 20 over the next two years.
'Pay defence practitioners earlier to improve disclosure - attorney general'
Jeremy Wright made his suggestion to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee last month as part of its inquiry into the disclosure of evidence in criminal cases. A full transcript of Wright's evidence session was published on Friday.
'One of the conversations that I and others need to have with the Ministry of Justice is about ways in which, if we cannot increase the overall amount - that is a different conversation, which I know you are engaged in as a committee - at the very least in the shorter term we should think about how we might change the emphasis of when fees are paid, to encourage work to be done early on disclosure by prosecution and by defence.'
Cases
Davies v British Transport Police [2018] UKIPTrib IPT_17_93_H
This is a determination made under s.68 (4) (a) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in favour of the Claimant, Mr Gary Davies, in respect of a claim brought against British Transport Police (BTP) concerning a failure to obtain authorisation for directed surveillance in accordance with Part II of RIPA.
Against this factual matrix, the Tribunal is astonished that Superintendent Sedgemore would have been prepared to grant an authorisation for surveillance. The legal requirements for an authorisation do not come close to being met and it is disturbing that the senior officer entrusted with decision-making in this area has so imperfect a grasp of the relevant law.