Summary
Crime Fees on Android
The Crime Fees app is now available on Android.
Crime Fees enables criminal barristers in England and Wales to easily calculate defence advocate fees under the new April 2018 AGFS (Scheme 10), the proposed new Scheme 11 (currently under consultation), and the old Scheme 9 (2012-2018).
News
'Met police driver faces criminal investigation after ramming moped'
A Metropolitan police driver is under criminal investigation after using a special tactic to deliberately knock a fleeing suspect off a moped, the Guardian has learned.
The teenager, aged 17 at the time, suffered head injuries and a broken foot as he fled from police. He was not wearing a helmet and later pleaded guilty to several offences.
The officer is believed to be the only one so far to face criminal investigation after using the controversial “tactical contact” measure, whereby police in cars knock a suspect off their moped or scooter, so they can be arrested.
Forensics Inquiry: Convictions Overturned
At least 40 motorists convicted of drug-driving offences have been cleared after evidence of manipulation was found in the forensic testing process. The motorists were banned from driving and in some cases fined, but their convictions have since been overturned.
About 10,500 test results are being reviewed after data was allegedly manipulated at Randox Testing Services. The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) described it as a "most serious breach" of forensic science standards.
Sexual Violence Survey Results Released
A survey commissioned by the End Violence Against Women Coalition found that a third of people in the UK think it isn’t usually rape if a woman is pressured into having sex but there is no physical violence.
Almost a quarter of the 4,000 people questioned in the Attitudes to Sexual Consent survey carried out by Yougov believed sex without consent in long-term relationships was usually not rape. Laws against rape in marriage have been in place since 1991.
The report is available here.
DPP at Select Committee
The Crown Prosecution Service cannot sustain further cuts because digital technology is imposing heavy additional workloads on its lawyers, Max Hill QC, the new director of public prosecutions, has told MPs.
In his first appearance before the justice select committee since taking up the role, Hill admitted that problems over disclosure – particularly over checking the contents of mobile phones – had led to a fall in the number of rape and sexual offence charges.
LCJ Suggests Smartphone Justice
Lawyers and judges should start preparing for a world in which access to judicial processes comes mainly through digital channels - including mobile telephones, the lord chief justice said today.
Noting that web auction site eBay resolves 60 million disputes a year online, the lord chief justice said 'we should not be frightened of learning from them'. This could even mean dealing with courts via a mobile phone. 'Why not?' the lord chief justice asked. 'There is no reason why our forms, processes, and perhaps even some hearings should not be optimised for smartphones giving litigants effective access to justice from the palm of their hand.'
Cases
R v Mader [2018] EWCA Crim 2454
In advancing the appeal, Mr Hingston (who was not counsel for the applicant at trial) submits that the admission of the evidence that Mr Waterhouse and Ms Crouch were of previous good character was prejudicial to the defence, so much so that it has rendered the conviction unsafe. He does not accept that this was a case in which it was appropriate to adduce the evidence because it was irrelevant to any issue in the trial.
Drawing those strands together, we consider the following propositions are now well established and should be applied when considering if evidence of good character of a non-defendant witness should be admitted...
R v Roberts and Others [2018] EWCA Crim 2739
On 26 September 2018 the judge sentenced Mr Blevins and Mr Roberts to 16 months' imprisonment and Mr Loizou to 15 months. The applicants sat on top of the cabs of lorries for between two and half and three and a half days with the result that one carriageway of the road was blocked. Substantial disruption was caused to thousands of people.
Despite our conclusion that a community sentence was the appropriate disposal in these cases, by the time the appeals came on for hearing, these appellants had spent three weeks in custody, the equivalent of serving a sentence of six weeks. In those circumstances, we concluded that it would not be appropriate now to impose a community order with a punitive element. The time in custody represented adequate punishment. The conditional discharge that we imposed introduced no additional active element of punishment but does provide some protection to the public against repeat offending.
International
'Australian defence lawyer named as police informant'
The convictions of some of Australia's most high-profile criminals have been cast into doubt after a lawyer was revealed to be a police informant.
The defence barrister, who represented notorious organised crime figures, gave information to Victoria Police between 2005-2009, court documents show.
In a scathing judgement, the court said the Victoria Police department was guilty of "reprehensible conduct" by encouraging the lawyer to provide information about her clients. "The prosecution of each convicted person was corrupted in a manner which debased fundamental premises of the criminal justice system," the judgement said.
The judgment can be found here.
Other
Minimum Pupillage Award - 1 September 2019
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has today announced that the rate for the minimum pupillage award that will apply from 1 September 2019 will be £18,436 per annum for pupillages in London and £15,728 per annum for pupillages outside London.
Sponsored
Crime Fees - Free AGFS Calculator for iOS and Android
Crime Fees enables criminal barristers in England and Wales to easily calculate defence advocate fees under the new April 2018 AGFS (Scheme 10), and also under the proposed new Scheme 11 (currently under consultation).
No need to compare complex fee tables. Simply select the type of hearing and offence, set the number of trial days, and the app will tell you the fee.
Add each fee in the case to the basket and save for convenient reference until you have been paid.
Every permutation of case under the AGFS is catered for - the 3 advocate types, the 19 types of hearing, the 17 offence bands, and the 915 offences.