News
Solicitor General Says Viewing Child Abuse Images As Bad As Direct Abuse
Paedophiles who download or share child abuse images should receive the same punishment as those who abuse children themselves, according to the solicitor general.
Robert Buckland QC said downloading and sharing such images was just as “insidious” as direct sexual abuse, as he announced plans to extend the unduly lenient sentencing scheme to indecent images offences. Under the scheme, victims and members of the public can challenge tariffs handed down to offenders.
Professional Entry Scheme for Court Buildings
This has brought into focus an issue that had been raised before – the proposal that legal practitioners should have their trusted status recognised with fast-track entry to courts. We agreed to develop a scheme of this kind, and have been working closely with The Bar Council and The Law Society to develop a workable solution.
Participating courts: Starting in September 2018, and lasting for 12 weeks, we will test the Professional Entry Scheme in five courts: Brighton Magistrates’ Court; Maidstone Combined Court; Southwark Crown Court; Tameside Magistrates’ Court; and Wood Green Crown Court.
'Defendants gaming system to get domestic violence cases dropped'
Defendants are “gaming the system” in specialist domestic violence courts by intimidating partners into not appearing in the expectation that magistrates will drop charges, a critical report has said.
The report, commissioned by the police and crime commissioner for Northumbria, Dame Vera Baird QC, was based on the monitoring more than 220 cases in the north-east of England. It suggests those in which the complainant does not appear are dismissed too readily and that criminal justice services are under-resourced.
The report can be found here.
Further Fallout From John Worboys Parole Decision
Turning to the resignation of former chair Hardwick, Mostyn said: ‘It is not acceptable for the secretary of state to pressurise the chair of the board to resign because he is dissatisfied with the latter’s conduct. This breaches the principle of judicial independence enshrined in the Act of Settlement 1701. If the secretary of state considers that the chair should be removed, then he should take formal steps to remove him pursuant to the terms of the chair’s appointment.’
Hardwick resigned in March and was told by Gauke his position was untenable following the furore regarding the decision to release convicted rapist John Worboys.
Blackstone’s v Archbold
The High Court has found in favour of Blackstone's in the long running dispute over which book should be used in the criminal courts.
The claimant argued that the decision of the Judicial Executive Board to approve Blackstone’s Criminal Practice as the official criminal law text for courts in England Wales, as opposed to Archbold, was unlawful. The claimant was the former editor of Archbold.
Cases
R v TL [2018] EWCA Crim 1821
The essence of the allegation is that between 29 April and 3 May 2017 he communicated online and by WhatsApp with a person he believed to be a girl who was 14 years old. He arranged for that girl to go to his flat to take part in a threesome with his girlfriend. The person with whom he was communicating was an adult male, Jamie-Ray Mr U, who ran a group called "Predator Hunters".
We start by observing that Mr U committed no offences in the course of his conduct which led to Mr L's arrest. True it is that he posted a profile which said the girl he was posing as was 18. But on the first inquiry he said she was 14. At no time did he induce the user of Mr L's phone to commit an offence. He was providing information which represented that the girl in question was only 14 and also explained that she was sexually inexperienced. It was the user of the phone who made all the running. Indeed, Mr U appears to have been scrupulous to avoid encouraging his interlocutor in the proposed sexual activity and at no time did he take the lead. This is far removed from a case of incitement in the sense of one person pushing another towards committing an offence which he would otherwise not commit, for example by badgering someone to engage in unlawful sexual or other activity.
Obscurity
'Man charged with walking pig without a lead in Norwich'
Norfolk Police were called to Prince of Wales Road on Wednesday and found the untethered pig "running around" with a dog, which bit one of the officers.
He was charged under Section 155 of the Highways Act 1980 with "having a pig untethered and loose on a public highway", a police spokeswoman confirmed.