Month: July 2018

Our stories

Manslaughter – New Sentencing Guideline

The Sentencing Council, responsible for setting sentencing guidelines in England and Wales, has today issued a new guideline in relation to manslaughter offences. Which offences are covered? The guideline covers: Unlawful act manslaughter – a common law offence Gross negligence manslaughter – a common law offence Manslaughter by reason of loss of control – […]

The Death Penalty and Extradition

In the UK we have not had the death penalty for over 50 years. The last hanging in England took place in 1964 when Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans were hanged for the murder of John West, 15 months before the death penalty was abolished. Since then there has been a long-held opposition to the […]

Cliff Richard, Privacy and the Data Protection Act

In July 2014 the BBC filmed a search of Sir Cliff Richard’s property by the South Yorkshire Police. He was not arrested for any offence. South Yorkshire Police provided the BBC with information that enabled them to be present at the scene. The disclosure given was that he was under investigation and the date, time […]

Consent

It should be easy enough, shouldn’t it? Yes or no? As always, life and the law are more complicated than that, and the issue of consent is not so simple. What is consent? A person consents if she or he agrees by choice and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice. […]

It’s health and safety gone mad!

Or is it? The Health and Safety Executive is the national regulator for workplace health and safety. Interestingly, on its website, there is a page for debunking health and safety myths, such as the one where flags were banned from civic cars for “health and safety”, or the removal of alcohol from a workplace Christmas […]

Explosives

Rather than Guy Fawkes or his modern-day counterparts many of the recent cases involving explosives have been in relation to thefts from cash machines. The law is old but still very relevant today; it may not be appreciated that a separate, more serious offence, may be being committed when explosives are used to facilitate another […]

Arson

Arson is a confusing area of the law as there are a number of different offences to consider. What are the different offences? Simple arson Arson, being reckless as to whether life is endangered Arson with intent to endanger life Simple arson This offence is one of causing criminal damage by fire; examples […]

New Sentencing Guideline Issued

The Sentencing Council has published new definitive guidelines for intimidatory offences, it will take effect in respect to all cases sentenced on or after 1 October 2018, so may well affect your current case. Sentencing Council member Judge Rosa Dean said: “Our guidelines recognise and reflect the very intimate, personal and intrusive nature of these […]

Participating in Organised Crime

Section 45 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 makes it is an offence to participate in the activities of an organised crime group, this is a new offence created by the 2015 legislation. Why a new offence? The offence was created to work alongside the offence of conspiracy. A conspiracy charge is aimed at […]