News
Home Secretary - Violent Crime Strategy
The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has today (October 2) set out a range of innovative new measures to address violent crime in the UK.
This builds on the ambitious programme of work outlined in the Serious Violence Strategy, published in April, which brings together a range of partners across different sectors to form a multi-agency response.
The new package of announcements to be taken forward by the government includes the following:
- Consultation on new legal duty to underpin a ‘public health’ approach to tackling serious violence
- New £200 million youth endowment fund
- Independent review of drug misuse
'People Suing The Government Were Denied Legal Aid After The Government Was Briefed On Their Cases'
People bringing legal challenges against the government have been refused public funding for a lawyer after ministers and Whitehall officials were given details of their applications, BuzzFeed News can reveal, raising questions over political interference in a supposedly independent process.
Legal aid is intended to ensure that people have access to a lawyer for major court cases even when they cannot afford it — a key component in holding government accountable.
But BuzzFeed News has learned of three high-profile cases challenging the government in which legal aid applications were turned down once the Ministry of Justice was aware of the application.
Unexplained Wealth Order Upheld
The wife of a foreign "fat cat" banker lost a bid to regain control of 22 million pounds ($29 million) worth of property in the U.K. that prosecutors say was bought with stolen funds. She may be able to keep her name out of the press for a little bit longer.
The woman, identified for now only as Mrs. A, had asked a London judge to block one of the first-ever "unexplained wealth orders," which freezes property when the owner cannot explain the source of the funds used for the purchase.
The judgment can be found further down in this issue of Witness.
Manhunt for Defendant
A rapist who leapt from the dock and ran out of court moments after being convicted is being hunted by police. Jurors at Worcester Crown Court unanimously convicted Bradley Tout, 20, of an attack on a teenage girl, in December 2016.
Upon hearing the verdict, Tout "vaulted" from the dock and was able to evade court officers during a chase. Security firm GeoAmey confirmed the escape and said one officer had to be taken to hospital with injuries.
Cases
National Crime Agency v A [2018] EWHC 2534 (Admin)
This application concerns the first "Unexplained Wealth Order" ("UWO") made under s.362A(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ("POCA").
In my judgment, for the reasons I have given, none of the grounds advanced for discharging the UWO are made out. Accordingly, this application is dismissed.
R v Oriakhel [2018] EWCA Crim 2153
The appellant had served a Defence Statement, as required by section 6A of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (as amended) on 30th November 2016, in which he said that a set of his car keys had gone missing two weeks before the incident. However, neither the contents of the Defence Statement, nor what was described as the "stolen keys defence" was mentioned during the trial and it formed no part of the defence which was advanced before the jury.
It is common ground between the prosecution and the defence that the judge was in error in referring to the contents of the Defence Statement. The error should have been immediately apparent and the judge should have been informed of his error.
It is clear that the judge made a mistake. He then went on to repeat his mistake as to the nature of the defence and to undermine it. His correction was short and acknowledged his mistake, but it did not cure the error that had been made. The appellant was entitled to have his defence placed before the jury. His defence was that the car had been stolen during the afternoon and evening of 25th March. It did not cure the harm done to the defence simply for the judge to admit that he had made a mistake and remind them that it was for the prosecution to prove the case.
Other
'Legal Hackette lunches with William Clegg QC'
William (Bill) Clegg QC discusses the ‘crisis’ in the criminal justice system, ‘squalid’ courts, ditching wigs, mental ill-health among barristers, and his book, Under the Wig, ghost-written by one of his former clients, and published this week.
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