Blog

    It is quite common to read in a newspaper that someone has been arrested. Local papers will cover almost any story of interest, and national media if the case involves a high-profile person.   For the person being investigated, such publicity can be devastating, as many people...

  Changes to the prison adjudication rules came in to force on 15 May 2020 and will remain in place until 25 March 2022, unless revoked earlier. The changes are in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.   What has changed?   The rules cater for the situation where a disciplinary...

  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...