Issue 9  28th October 2017

Dishonesty Redefined

In judgment, the court said the two-stage test defined in 1982 R v Ghosh, has ‘serious problems' ... The second stage in the Ghosh test asks juries to consider whether the defendant would have realised that ordinary honest people would regard his behaviour as dishonest. Today's judgment says that does not correctly represent the law and that directions based on it should no longer be given.

The judgment can be found here and the press summary here. Interesting blog posts on the impact of this case can be found here, here and here.

Flexible Operating Hours Pilot Restarted

HMCTS have published updated proposals for the 'flexible operating hours' pilot, and have requested feedback.

The new plan involves a 6-month pilot (Feb 2017 to Aug 2017) of:

• Newcastle Crown Court and Blackfriars Crown Court: 09:30-13:30 and 14:00-18:00 sessions
• Some afternoon slots in Blackfriars Crown Court will be Magistrates' Court listings
• Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court: 10:00-13:00, 14:00-17:00, 17:30-20:30 sessions
• Sheffield Magistrates' Court: 08:00-11:00, 11:30-14:30, 15:30-18:30 sessions

PACE Codes Consultation

The Government is proposing to change several parts of the PACE codes.

Of particular note:

(a) it extends the range of devices that may be used and enables the police to use the latest recording technology, including any suitably compliant ‘body worn video’ (BWV) equipment to record suspect interviews;

(b) for any interview, irrespective of the type of offence and whether or not the suspect has been arrested, whenever a suitably compliant authorised recording device is available and can be used, it must be used;

(c) a written interview record may be made only if a specified officer (the ‘relevant officer’) determines that such a device is not available/cannot be used and the interview should not be delayed until such time that it can be audio recorded. Depending on the offence in question, whether the suspect has been arrested and where the interview takes place, the ‘relevant officer’ may be the custody officer, a sergeant or the interviewing officer.

'Videolinks in court trials undermine justice system, says report'

Video-conferencing threatens defendants’ rights and undermines trust in the justice system, according to a report on the government’s drive towards so-called “trial by Skype”.

Defendants in virtual court hearings find it difficult to hold confidential discussions with their lawyers, become disconnected from remote proceedings and may be disadvantaged during sentencing, the study by Transform Justice suggests.

The report can be found here.

Litigators’ Graduated Fees Scheme Response

The Ministry of Justice has responded to the consultation on cuts to the fees for solicitors in criminal proceedings that are based on pages of prosecution evidence (PPE). The MoJ has decided to proceed with the proposed reduction of the threshold of PPE to 6,000, despite the vast majority of respondents (97% of 1,005 responses) disagreeing with the proposal.

An article assessing the impact of this change can be found here.