All articles by Anthony Edwards – Page 3
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News
Criminal law – Sentencing Council guidelines
On 6 April 2010 the new Sentencing Council came into being. Previous guidelines are deemed to be guidelines of the council until they are reconsidered. Courts must now follow any relevant guideline unless it is satisfied that it would not be in the interests of justice to do so. Similarly, ...
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News
Changes to the law of homicide
In relation to acts or omissions on or after 4 October 2010, critical changes to the law of homicide are made by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The issues are dealt with in part 2 chapter 1. The first set of changes deals with diminished ...
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Criminal law - procedural amendments
On 5 April 2010, the Criminal Procedure Rules were consolidated into a new edition, but the opportunity was also taken to make a series of amendments. Part 29 now provides for special measures to assist defendants in relation to witness anonymity orders.
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News
Criminal law: new offences, amendments and provisions
Significant parts of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 took effect during the spring of this year. On 1 February section 59 was brought into force amending the Suicide Act 1961. For the old offence under section 2, there is now substituted a provision that ‘a person (D) commits an ...
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Criminal: defence witness notices
A new obligation has been placed on defence lawyers by the implementation of section 34 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, introducing a section 6 C into the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.
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Criminal law: sentencing, costs and confiscation
On 26 October 2009, the sentencing guideline for statutory offences of fraud came into force. The guideline does not deal with the offences of conspiracy to defraud or cheating the public revenue, where case law will continue to apply. Since many fraud offences are broadly defined, some types of activity ...
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News
Criminal law: use of hearsay evidence; professional conduct
The Supreme Court in R v Horncastle [2009] UKSC14 has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal that, in appropriate circumstances, the Crown may rely wholly or mainly on hearsay evidence to establish its case. The Court of Appeal had, however, emphasised the need to check the reliability of ...
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News
Criminal law – extending the jurisdiction of the magistrates’ courts
For hearings on or after 30 September 2009, significant amendments have been made to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 by section 17 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004.
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News
Criminal law: youth justice and sentencing
Major changes are being made to the way that courts may sentence young offenders. On 27 April, provisions were brought into force to increase the use of referral orders. These are mandatory if the offence is imprisonable and a first-time offender admits the offence and all connected offences, and the ...
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Criminal law roundup: more than just the usual suspects
Many suspects now surrender themselves to the police when it is known that they are subject to an investigation. They attend the police station as volunteers. Police culture is still deeply committed to making an arrest at that point. However, every arrest must be justified under section 24 of the ...
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News
Criminal law: self-defence, diminished responsibility, et alia
The law on self-defence has been ‘clarified’ (section 76(9)) but not amended or consolidated by section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, which came into force in July last year.
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News
Criminal law: defence costs orders and more
Important provisions in relation to the taxation of defence costs orders, made in the magistrates’ court, came into effect on 13 October 2008. All such bills delivered after that date will now be taxed by the appropriate National Taxing Team rather than by the court itself.
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News
Criminal law: witness anonymity, automatic deportation
In R v Davis [2008] UKHL 36, the House of Lords held that the use of anonymous witnesses whose evidence was critical to the conviction, rendered a trial unfair without a statutory scheme being in force.
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News
Hearsay, bad character and identification evidence
The very wide use of the provisions of section 114(1)(d) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to allow the admission, as evidence of its truth, of hearsay evidence is further confirmed by the decision in R v RL [2008] EWCA Crime 973.
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News
Criminal law: changes to bail, sentencing and sexual offences
A number of the provisions of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (CJIA) have been brought into force.
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News
Criminal: trials in absence, youth crime, hearsay
Where a defendant fails to appear for trial and the judge is sure that he has deliberately absented himself, it is necessary to proceed in the defendant’s absence (R v Anthony Jones [2003] 1 AC1).
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News
Clearing up confiscations & protecting the public
The House of Lords and Court of Appeal have recently handed down important judgments on the issue of confiscation. In R v May [2008] UKHL 28, Jennings v CPS [2008] UKHL 29, and R v Green [2008] UKHL 30, the House carried out a basic analysis of the law and ...
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News
Magistrates guidelines
The Sentencing Guidelines Council has announced that the new edition of the Magistrates Court Guidelines will take effect on 4 August 2008. In the intervening period there is a substantial training exercise to be undertaken to explain to magistrates and their legal advisers the changes which ...
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