In last week’s special newsletter for subscribers I wrote about how the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would severely curtail the right to protest in the UK. Unfortunately the proposed legislation would only represent the formalisation of what has been government policy for a long
The family of PC Andrew Harper should have been supported in their time of need. Instead they were offered false hope and embarrassed on the public stage. As a quick reminder Harper was tragically killed in August of last year as he was trying to
In the second of two cases looking at illegality as a defence we turn to the proceedings brought by Ecila Henderson who murdered her mother during a psychotic episode. It turned out that the NHS Trust was negligent in its care and she should never
marcuscleaver · Stoffel & Co. v Grondona [2020] UKSC 42 When Maria Grondona committed mortgage fraud she didn’t think that her plans would inadvertently fall apart because of the negligence of her solicitors. She pursued a claim for professional negligence but the key question in
Despite the positive news about a potential vaccine for COVID-19 it remains likely that we will continue to live with the virus for some time to come. Some sectors have done well to cope with the ‘new normal’ but it is time to face up
marcuscleaver · R (Highbury Poultry Farm Produce Ltd) v CPS [2020] UKSC 39 Animal welfare concerns also enter into the slaughterhouse to ensure that animals are killed in as humane a way as possible without any unnecessary cruelty. When a slaughterhouse was charged with two
marcuscleaver · R v Hilton [2020] UKSC 29 After a confiscation order was made against a benefits fraudster questions were raised about its validity. The court had not given other persons with an interest in the relevant property a chance to make their own representations.
Irish republican Gerry Adams was subject to an interim custody order in 1973 but now seeks to challenge it on the basis of new evidence that suggests the order should have been signed by the Secretary of State. We discuss whether this is a mere
When Copeland was arrested for possessing small amounts of an explosive substance he wasn’t a political extremist or a terrorist but just a young man who has a keen interest in bombs. In this case the Supreme Court decides whether that is enough of a
Michael Stone is a loyalist terrorist who is currently behind bars for a range of politically-motivated crimes. The thirty year tariff on his sentence was due to expire in 2018 but this ignored the fact that he had been released for a period of time