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Our criminal defence and appeals team regularly write about related legal topics and breaking news, we welcome your comments on our posts. If you would like more information on our services, please don't hesitate to get in touch on 01616 966 229.
The Criminal Bar Association recently commented upon news that the number of cases waiting to be heard across the Magistrates' and Crown Courts stood at 432,899 in February 2022. This backlog was in part due to the pandemic but also down to...
On the 9 th June 2022 the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions in the case of R V Johnson 2022 EWCA 790. The appellant was represented by Miss Correna Platt of Stephensons and Mr David Emanuel QC of Garden Court Chambers. The...
The NSPCC reported last year that there had been a record high number of grooming allegations recorded by police. There is no specific offence of “grooming” as such, but the illegal activity is subject to a number of sections of the Sexual...
There appears to be no let up in efforts made by the police in tackling drug related offending, in particular county lines drug dealing. In a recent police push, between 11 October and 17 October: 1,468 people were arrested 2,664 vulnerable people,...
A recent episode of Channel 4’s 24 Hours in Police Custody dealt with a gradual, worsening feud between a father and a boyfriend which led to a fatal stabbing. Robert Parkins was convicted of Alex Fitzpatrick’s murder and received a life...
DNA evidence has developed over the years in the field of criminal law. The first case in which it was used by the police was back in 1986 whereby two teenagers had been raped and murdered. The initial suspect in relation to the crimes was proven to...
The first sentencing guidelines for offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, were published on the 12 th August by the Sentencing Council following consultation. The offences covered include slavery, forced labour, human trafficking or an offence...
In September 2020, Extinction Rebellion protested in central London with the aim of highlighting the issue of climate change. It was reported that they blocked roads, glued themselves to the floor and staged sit-ins. In total the police arrested more than...
During the past 18 months everyone has faced challenges and significant changes to their life due to the covid-19 pandemic. Many new ways of working and doing routine tasks had to be implemented. Face to face meetings were avoided where...
Allegations of assault (often in a domestic context) are one of the most common types of offences that we in the general crime department are asked to defend. New sentencing guidelines came into force on 1st July 2021. These bring about many changes,...
County lines is a drugs distribution model using mobile phones and sometimes young and vulnerable individuals where drugs are exported from major cities to various locations across the United Kingdom. The National Crime Agency have recently...
Due to advances in technology and the increased use of social media by nearly everyone in the country most people have the means to share images widely. It is very easy for a person, in haste, to post something online which they later regret. ...
There have been calls for urgent action to be taken in order to tackle abuse in education. These follow an influx of over 11,000 anonymous testimonials were submitted to the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website, sharing instances of all types of...
Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters (an average of one a week) based on information from a recently installed computer system called Horizon. After 20 years, campaigners have now won a legal battle to have their cases...
Since 1st April 2021, updated sentencing guidelines have come into effect for offences falling under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. These guidelines will apply to all cases sentenced on or after this date. Over...
