For the last few weeks, since the Coronavirus 'lockdown', all jury trials in England and Wales have been stopped. This is not at all surprising given the scale of the pandemic and the requirement for social distancing. However, with a rising backlog of cases, and the...
Terminating Rulings When a judge makes a ruling at a crown court trial relating to one or more of the offences faced, the prosecution may have a right to appeal against that ruling. The right to appeal against a terminating ruling is strictly conditional upon certain procedures...
Appeals There are several types of criminal appeals. Appeals against conviction or sentence Cases start in the Magistrates Court. If you want to appeal against a conviction or sentence in that Court, you can appeal to the Crown Court. If you are dealt with in the Crown Court and...
Covid 19 Lockdown - the law The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 imposes several restrictions. Over the last week, the police have been keen to enforce compliance, even calling out the MP Stephen Kinnock over social media for visiting his father on his birthday. Given the...
Covid 19 and Business Closure - Legal Obligations At 2 pm on Saturday 21 March 2020, a law came into force which forced the closure of some businesses. This law was enacted by virtue of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Business Closure) (England) Regulations 2020 (and mirror regulations...
A defendant has the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. In exceptional cases, a delay will lead to a stay of proceedings as an abuse of process. A stay of proceedings is an extremely rare outcome, with the Court of Appeal making the...
Intermediaries The use of intermediaries during criminal trials is becoming increasingly commonplace. An intermediary may be used to assist any witness, including a defendant, give evidence. The functions of an intermediary "Intermediaries are communication specialists (not supporters or expert witnesses) whose role is to facilitate communication between the...
Criminal Justice and Coronavirus As the UK prepares to move into the 'delay phase', changes are expected to criminal justice procedure. So, what might be expected to change? Criminal Investigations In the event of any public disorder, work on low priority criminal investigations may slow or stall entirely...
Circumstantial evidence is widely misunderstood, and many people cannot understand how a case can be advanced without primary evidence of wrongdoing. To illustrate this, we can use two examples relating to burglary. Burglary can be committed in quite a few different ways, but the most common...
Forensic evidence The Forensic Science Regulator regulates forensic scientists in England and Wales. The Regulator ensures that the provision of forensic science evidence across the criminal justice system is subject to appropriate standards. The Regulator has recently said that there are gaps in quality that need to...