This article by Tom Whitehead has been extracted from the Daily Telegraph here A teacher’s human rights were breached after police included unproven allegations against him in a criminal records check, the High Court ruled yesterday. The PE teacher has not worked for more than two years because the allegation remained on his record even though police [...]
Dame Julia Macur and Sir Ernest Ryder promoted to the Court of Appeal
April 12, 2013 from Leave a Comment
Two recent appointments to the Court of Appeal include Dame Julia Macur and Sir Ernest Ryder both of whom are family court Judges. Dame Julia Macur, the third woman to join the court of appeal, is a family specialist who has been a high court judge for seven and a half years. Last year, she [...]
Yes, suspects are sometimes innocent – but secret arrests are not the answer
April 12, 2013 from Leave a Comment
In an interesting article in the Guardian (here) Joshua Rosenberg, discusses support from some senior judges that their should be a blanket ban on naming potential defendants in Court cases Senior judges have expressed support for a new system of secret arrests. The proposed blanket ban on naming suspects is supported by chief constables but [...]
The three women fighting to clear their loved ones’ names
March 18, 2013 from Leave a Comment
The three women fighting to clear their loved ones’ names What is it like if your brother or son is convicted of murder when you are convinced they are innocent? Three women who have fought for years to prove their loved ones’ innocence tell their story. Read their stories on Guardian Online here and guardian.co.uk/video.
Media Release: Chris Saltrese responds to DPP’s proposals to review sexual offences programme.
March 12, 2013 from Leave a Comment
The Following media release has been issued by Chris Saltrese, a solicitor specialising in defending allegations of sexual abuse . MEDIA RELEASE CHRIS SALTRESE RESPONSE TO THE DPP’S PROPOSALS TO REVIEW SEXUAL OFFENCE PROSECUTIONS “Case building’ risks case manufacture in historic child abuse” warns defence solicitor. Responding to the DPPs proposals to increase prosecutions for alleged [...]
Criminal Cases Review Commission – better the devil you know? – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
February 18, 2013 from Leave a Comment
The Halsbury Law Exchange have published an article titled “Criminal Cases Review Commission – better the devil you know?” which discusses various opinions about the efficacy of the CCRC following the Governments call for evidence as part of a series non-departmental triennial reviews. The triennial review is part of the Coalition’s much-trumpeted “bonfire of the [...]
A breach of human rights: Court of Appeal rules CRB check law must go
February 5, 2013 from Leave a Comment
This item by Paul Peachey appeared in the Independent on 29th January A major overhaul of the criminal records regime could be required after three judges ruled that the current system breached human rights. [See judgement here] The Court of Appeal today said that a blanket requirement for some job seekers to supply details of [...]
High Court clarifies entitlement to compensation on the grounds that there has been a “miscarriage of justice”
January 26, 2013 from Leave a Comment
The High Court has heard several judicial reviews following the decision of the Supreme Court in R (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice; Re MacDermott, and Re McCartney [2011] UKSC 18, which examined issues to do with compensation claims for those wrongly convicted. The question faced by the High Court was whether and, in what circumstances, a [...]
Court of appeal quashes convictions of five men for murder
January 10, 2013 from Leave a Comment
This is an extract of an item which appears on the Guardian website on 8th Jan 2013 The court of appeal has quashed the murder convictions of five men convicted of a gangland killing after hearing of failures to reveal potentially crucial evidence to the defence. The five men were serving life sentences totalling a minimum of [...]
Justice Gap publish their on-line Christmas Newsletter
December 21, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The Justice Gap have published their on-line Christmas Newsletter. Among the stories on www.thejusticegap.com this month, are: 1. A tribute to Tony Stock who died recently and was regarded as subject of one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice of modern times: You can read The Curious Case of Tony Stock HERE. Earlier this week the Labour MP Barry Sheerman [...]
Supreme Court hands down an important judgment which deals with conflicting human rights (Articles 3, 6 and 8) in disputed allegations casee
December 19, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The Supreme Court has handed down an important judgment in Re A (A Child) [2012] UKSC 60 (12 December 2012) (Lady Hale, with whom Lords Neuberger, Clarke, Wilson and Reed agreed; appeal against a decision of McFarlane, Thorpe and Hallett LJJ) which deals with conflicting human rights (Articles 8 and 6, as well as an Article 3 claim) Summarising [...]
Court hears of collusion and quashes sex offence conviction
December 10, 2012 from Leave a Comment
This item written by Steve Butcher appears on the age.com website and refers to a judgement in the State of Victoria’s Appeal Court (Australia) A woman jailed in 2010 for sex offences 33 years ago against two boys aged eight has been freed after Victoria’s highest court quashed her convictions and acquitted her. Three Court [...]
Judicial review statistics: how many cases are there and what are they about?
November 26, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The government wants to restrict judicial review cases. But how common are they anyway? • Download the data • More data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian
Ministry of Justice to conduct a review of the CCRC
October 25, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The Ministry of Justice have issued a Media Release (copied below) stating the Criminal Cases Review Commission is to be subject to a Triennial Review. The review will run from 19 Oct 2012 to 14 Dec 2012 The review team is seeking evidence from a wide range of bodies and would particularly welcome hearing from applicants (current, [...]
Panorama to show programme on the Lynette White case
August 13, 2012 from Leave a Comment
Fresh concerns are to be raised in BBC Panorama programme about the way the investigation into officers involved in the miscarriage of justice surrounding the Lynette White murder in 1988 was set up. Panorama, Justice Denied: the Greatest Scandal? BBC One, Monday, 13 August at 20:30 BST then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
Prisoner who has spent 16 years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit may soon be freed
August 7, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The following article by Gywn Topham appeared in Guardian Online on Wednesday 18 July 2012 Part of Wakefield prison, Yorkshire, where Victor Nealon is serving a discretionary life sentence. Photograph: Gareth Copley/PA A man who has spent almost 16 years in prison for a crime he always denied committing may soon be freed after DNA traces [...]
Historic Abuse case referred to Court of Appeal by the CCRC
May 25, 2012 from Leave a Comment
QualitySolicitors Jordans have issued the following Press release Criminal Cases Review Commission Refer QualitySolicitors Jordans Case The CCRC have referred the case of JD to the Court of Appeal on the basis of his convictions being unsafe. This is a further case in a series of Historical Care Home Appeals investigated by Mark Newby Solicitor Advocate [...]
FACTsheet on How to Appeal
April 7, 2012 from Leave a Comment
There is new FACTsheet on the website on How to Appeal in Criminal Cases. You can find it here
Judge critical of employers decision to refer complaint to the police
February 27, 2012 from Leave a Comment
The Court of Appeal recently considered a case involving two experienced nurses who were employed by the Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust who were dismissed for alleged alleged gross misconduct arising out of the way in which they handled a patient known a patient suffering from severe dementia. The full judgement can be found here. [...]
A new centre for criminal appeals set up
January 19, 2012 from Leave a Comment
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 [...]
Dramatic developments in the Eddie Gilfoyle case – ‘murdered’ wife’s secret diary found 16 years late
January 8, 2012 from Leave a Comment
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 [...]
Court of Appeal decision in Bursar case
September 19, 2011 from Leave a Comment
The Court of Appeal have passed down an interesting but complex judgement relating to employment issues in Fuller v London Borough of Brent [2011] EWCA Civ 267 (15 March 2011) concerning the test of reasonableness in decisions relating to disciplinary proceedings. The judgement is particularly relevant because it relates to a school bursar formerly employed [...]
Guardian reports on alleged failures by the Criminal Cases Review Commission
June 6, 2011 from Leave a Comment
This article by Jamie Doward first appeared on the Guardian website (here) on the 29th May, 2011 The watchdog that examines miscarriages of justice is failing innocent people, according to a senior lawyer involved in some of the highest-profile court cases in recent years. John Cooper QC, honorary visiting professor of law at Cardiff University, [...]
Former prisoner challenges licence conditions – case judgement
May 30, 2011 from Leave a Comment
Our attention has been drawn to a recent case in which deals with a released prisoners right to challenge conditions imposed upon him on his release. In this case it was necessary to consider whether they were so onerous that they amounted to a deprivation of his liberty? Did they constitute an unnecessary and disproportionate [...]
Supreme Court agree wrongly convicted men can be compensated.
May 12, 2011 from Leave a Comment
The Supreme Court have handed down their judgement (here) in the case of three men who claimed compensation for being wrongly convicted. By a narrow majority, the judges held that a miscarriage of justice occurs “when a new or newly discovered fact shows conclusively that the evidence against a defendant has been so undermined that [...]