Please note that that some further changes will be made to the web site in the coming weeks.
Rather than take the whole site down we shall make the changes over time.
This may result in some instability and unexpected results.
If you cannot find the page you are looking for please email me
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It is with much sadness that we report the passing of Richard Webster who died a few days ago. Although fiercely independent in his role as a cultural historian Richard was a good friend to FACT.
Richard was born in 1950 and studied English literature at the University of East Anglia. He was a distinguished author and wrote A Brief History of Blasphemy: Liberalism, Censorship and ‘The Satanic Verses’, 1990; Why Freud Was Wrong: Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis, 1995; Freud (Great Philosophers), 2003; The Great Children’s Home Panic, 1998, The Secret of Bryn Estyn: The Making of ...
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R (T) v (1) Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, (2) Secretary of State for the Home Department (Secretary of State for Justice an interested party) [2012] EWHC 147 (Admin)
In July 2002, the Claimant was 11 years old. He received a warning (a private procedure, under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) from Greater Manchester Police for the theft of two bicycles. His subsequent conduct was apparently exemplary. By section 113B of the Police Act 1997, Enhanced Criminal Record Certificates (ECRCs) must contain all convictions, cautions and warnings.The Claimant, a 20-year old student applying for a sports studies course, obtained his ...
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Taxi drivers will be eligible for enhanced background checks under new proposals announced today.
Today’s proposals will allow taxi licensing authorities to carry out enhanced criminal records checks on their drivers before they are issued with a licence. Current drivers will get additional checks when they renew their licence.
Under the current regime, only drivers who pick up children or vulnerable adults are automatically eligible for enhanced checks, although some firms do choose to get these extra checks for drivers as a matter of course.
Protecting the public
These proposals standardise the practice and simplify the system giving additional reassurance to women travelling alone and other ...
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Dance teacher jailed for falsely accusing Louis Walsh of groping him
A dance teacher was yesterday (24th jan) jailed for six months for falsely accusing X Factor judge Louis Walsh of groping him in a nightclub. Leonard Watters pleaded guilty to making two false reports to Irish police that the pop music mogul sexually assaulted …
Telegraph.co.uk
See all stories on this topic »
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BBC North East report that A former Cleveland Police officer who was wrongfully sent to prison has been awarded almost £400,000 after an 18-year legal fight.
Former traffic officer Sultan Alam, 48, was jailed for 18 months in 1996 for conspiracy to steal car parts, but was cleared by the Court of Appeal in 2007.
Cleveland Police had admitted the malicious prosecution of Mr Alam, at Leeds County Court.
Judge Andrew Keyser QC said the force had tried to “destroy” his reputation.
Cleveland Police said it was “pleased” with the outcome.
As well as damages, Mr Alam will also receive compensation for loss of earnings ...
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Hospitals are being instructed to remove advertisements for personal injury lawyers featured in NHS leaflets issued to patients, it has emerged.
The adverts, which encourage “no win, no fee” compensation claims, have been banned by the Department of Health yet some trusts are continuing to allow them as a means of boosting revenue.
Some hospitals are paid up to £85,000 a year to feature the promotions while others are offered donations of equipment or uniforms. They appear on official leaflets that provide information to patients on conditions from backache to advice on treating wounds.
Simon Burns, the Health Minister, told The Times he ...
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There is an interesting post by Catherine Wilson on Halsbury’s Law Exchange concerning the Government’s announcement that it intends to make it easier to dismiss inadequate teachers.
According to last weeks’ press coverage, schools are to be given new powers to weed out incompetent teachers and enforce “rigorous” standards to ensure performance is maintained. However, behind the headlines these proposals may be less far reaching in practice than they at first appear. Poor performance is generally a fair reason for dismissal, irrespective of the business or organisation. However, in practice it is one of the most difficult processes for any employer to ...
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Anew centre for aimed to improve access to Criminal Appeals has been set up.
The Centre for Criminal Appeals (CCA) is a new “access to justice” initiative, currently in its start-up phase. Once operational, CCA’s mission will be to:
work to overturn unsafe convictions by providing investigation and legal advocacy on criminal appeal cases in England and Wales on a not-for-profit basis
share lessons learned from casework with criminal justice policy makers, the legal profession and the public, with a view to systemic reform
A proposed not-for-profit solution to the shortage of legal representation on appeal
Whether you are a legal professional, a prisoner, a ...
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In what many peole will see as a blow for ‘trawling’ The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) v Secretary of State for Justice and G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Ltd and Serco plc [2012] EWHC 8 (Admin) – read judgment
Although certain restraining measures had been taken unlawfully against young people in secure training centres for a number of years, the court had no jurisdiction to grant an order that the victims of this activity be identified and advised of their rights.
The claimant charity alleged that children and young persons held in one or other of the four Secure Training Centres in ...
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A secret diary that could have cleared a convicted murderer was held by the police for at least 16 years while he remained in jail, protesting his innocence. Eddie Gilfoyle was jailed for life in 1993 for murdering his pregnant wife, Paula, by hanging her and making it look like suicide.
The Times newspaper has learnt that a locked box containing her diary and personal papers revealed a previous suicide attempt and a traumatic past. Alison Halford, the former Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, which investigated the death, said yesterday it was wicked that the evidence had not been ...
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The Filkin report – background
In July 2011 there were perceptions that phone hacking at the News of the World was more widespread than had previously been identified, and that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) may not have investigated these concerns thoroughly. The then Commissioner of the MPS and an Assistant Commissioner resigned.
In July 2011 the then Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson asked me to review the relationships between the MPS and the media. On the 13th of July 2011 the Prime Minister announced a Public Inquiry to be chaired by Lord Justice Leveson into the ‘Culture, Practices and Ethics of the ...
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The Daily Telegraph has reported (here) that well over 900 serving police officers have convictions. police officers.
Forces across England and Wales employ policemen and women with convictions including burglary, causing death by careless driving, robbery, supplying drugs, domestic violence, forgery and perverting the course of justice.
Those with criminal records include senior officers, among them two detective chief inspectors and one chief inspector working for the Metropolitan Police.
At least 944 currently serving officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) have a conviction, according to figures released by 33 of the 43 forces in England and Wales in response to Freedom of ...
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Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories. David F. Pierre. CreateSpace Publishers. 2011. 190 pages.
David F. Pierre’s newest book, Catholic Priests Falsely Accused: The Facts, The Fraud, The Stories (The Media Report, 2011). The book documents the stories of seven priests who have suffered under the millstone of false witness over the last decade of scandal in the Catholic Church, and their arduous trek to exoneration.
The book has attracted some controversy but may be of interest to those who fight for justice for the religious.
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The Innocence Network (UK) has issued a public statement on how the criminal justice system is still failing innocent victims of wrongful conviction despite the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
In a lengthy article (well worth reading here) they draw attention to three illustrative cases
Case Studies
Neil Hurley
Neil Hurley was convicted on the 5 May 1994 of the murder of Sharon Pritchard, who was his ex-partner and the mother of two their children. The victim was found naked and bludgeoned to death on a playing field close to her home in Croeserw, South Wales. Neil Hurley was arrested and ...
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The Ministry of Justice has issued a press release (here) indicating that they intend to introduce fees for using employment tribunals
Ministry of Justice
Employment tribunal fees to benefit business and taxpayers
14 December 2011
Plans to lower the £84 million cost to the taxpayer, and relieve pressure on businesses, through the introduction of fees for employment tribunals were announced today by Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly.
Last year, the taxpayer footed the full £84 million bill of running the tribunals, despite the fact that most people will never use the service.
The consultation being launched today puts forward two sets of proposals that will ensure that ...
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Jules Mattsson compensated for military parade photo ban
From time to time FACT has had occasion to be critical of young people who are browbeaten by police pressure. On this occasion we salute the action and determination of a young photographer who when asked by the police to stop photographing a military parade stood his ground. Despite the public event taking place in the middle of the town centre, Metropolitan Police officers claimed it was unlawful to photograph the parade. Various reasons were given for the request including being a “terrorist threat” and for taking pictures of children who formed part ...
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Following the collapse of the trial the Crown Prosecution Service have issued the following statement
CPS statement on R v Mouncher and Others
01/12/2011
The CPS has today decided to discontinue proceedings in the trial of eight former police officers accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Simon Clements, the CPS reviewing lawyer in the case said: “The allegations against these men arose out of their investigation into the murder of Lynette White. Three men were wrongly convicted in 1990 of her murder and had their convictions quashed on appeal.
“These were extremely serious allegations that men who were then serving police officers ...
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Chris Jefferries who was wrongly accused of murdering Joanna Yeates informs the Levenson Inquiry that he was falsely accused of being a pervert, gay, bisexual and of being friend of a pedophile
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Teachers accused of crime are given lifelong anonymity
A Press release issued by the PA on the 17 November 2011 states
Proposals to give lifelong anonymity to teachers accused of committing criminal offences against children at their schools have become law after the Education Act 2011 received Royal Assent.
It means that teachers have become the first group of people in British legal history to be given automatic anonymity when they are accused of a criminal offence.
The anonymity ends only if the teacher is charged with a criminal offence, or a court agrees to an application that it is in the interests of ...
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Scottish government to consult on CRB. The scottish Government has begun a consultation on CRB’s
The Police Act 1997 (Criminal Record Certificates – Children’s Hearings) (Scotland) Order 2012
The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on the offences which should be included in the order which Scottish Ministers intend to make under section 113A(6) of the Police Act 1997, as amended by the Children’s Hearing (Scotland) Act 2011, to define the information which Disclosure Scotland can access and disclose automatically whilst discharging their functions of providing criminal record checks for recruitment and other purposes.
Contact: John McCutcheon
Address: Care and Justice, Area 2A(N), Victoria ...
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A new support has been launched in Scotland for supporting families who have experienced injustice. A spokesman for the group said they are consulting with users and professionals to decide which way their organisation should go in.
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Innocence Network UK is now offering Individual Membership for £25, but which is FREE OF CHARGE for the unwaged or for those who are campaigning for an alleged innocent victim of a wrongful conviction.
Individual Members receive:
A pdf copy of INQUIRY newsletter four times a year sent directly to your e-mail address
Information about INUK conferences, seminars and events.
Discounts for INUK conferences, seminars and events.
Notification of new publications in the area of wrongful convictions.
Updates on cases submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)
or Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) and on their progress through the criminal appeals system.
The knowledge that you are part of a ...
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This items appears on the Independent Catholic News website (here)
Irish broadcasters RTE have apologised without reservation for false accusing a missionary in Kenya of raping a woman.In a statement, the Irish Missionary Union has welcomed the fact that RTE “has settled the defamation against it and has apologised unreservedly for the defamation inflicted on Fr Kevin Reynolds MHM, a Mill Hill Missionary whom it falsely accused of raping a woman in Kenya.”
The IMU says in a statement:
“We acknowledge the suffering that Fr Kevin has had to endure through this ordeal. The courage of Fr Kevin and the dignity with which ...
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One of the most significant police anti-corruption cases in modern times has collapsed, after two former detectives, who had both served lengthy jail sentences, were cleared at a retrial.
Robert Clark and Christopher Drury were drummed out of the force in disgrace after being convicted in 2000 of robbing drug dealers and recycling the narcotics.
Their convictions were among the highest profile and most significant obtained by Scotland Yard in its long-running battle against corruption.
They walked free after a supergrass witness recanted her evidence, leaving Scotland Yard facing a potential bill for the former officers’ back wages and compensation running into hundreds of thousands ...
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The Scottish Government undertaken a review of the future of Scots law and practice
A major review which offers a considered examination on the future of Scots law and practice following the UK Supreme Court’s Cadder ruling last year and the impact of recent legislation on criminal procedure was published today.
Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill welcomed the report by High Court Judge Lord Carloway which sets the scene for meaningful reform of the criminal justice system. Key recommendations include:
The right to legal advice when taken into custody
Limit the period of arrest before charge to 12 hours
Particular protection and rights for children and ...
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This story appeared in the Independent on the 8th November 2011
Police faced criticism tonight after it emerged that they had contacted any protesters arrested at recent demonstrations, warning them to stay away from any trouble at tomorrow’s march, despite many never having been charged with or convicted of any offence.
The Metropolitan Police Service said it contacted 450 people (click here to read the letter) who had been arrested at related demonstrations in the last 12 months, in a bid to prevent a return to the disturbances seen at last Winter’s fees and anti-cuts marches.
One of them, 17-year-old Tyler Perkin, attacked the move ...
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