Criminal procedure

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Covid 19 – fixed penalty notices

Covid 19 – fixed penalty notices. More than 85,000 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) have been issued for breaches of the Covid restrictions in England since March 2020. What is a fixed penalty notice? An FPN allows a penalty to be paid instead of being prosecuted and risking a criminal conviction. Fast payment is incentivised by reducing […]

Deletion of Police Records

In 2006 the Association of Chief Police Officers, known as ACPO, founded a Criminal Records Office, now known as ACRO. The intention was for ACRO to organise the management of criminal record information and improve links between the records and biometric information. ACRO’s principal functions are providing police certificates, international child protection certificates and responses […]

Bite Mark Evidence

What is bite mark evidence? A bite mark is a pattern produced by the indentations of the teeth into any substance capable of being marked. It is argued that a bite mark can be thought of as a tool mark and that they are unique to the individual, like a fingerprint. The way a bite […]

GPS Tags on Released Prisoners

GPS tags on released prisoners. The government has announced what it has called a “world-first scheme” to track certain offenders as they are released from prison. The proposal will make those convicted of burglary, theft or robbery wear a GPS tag on release from prison. The scheme follows from the use of sobriety tags, introduced […]

Drugs & Sentencing – Is Cash Relevant?

In the case of Mahmood [2019] EWCA Crim 1532, the court dealt with the relevance of cash when determining which sentencing category an offence fell into. A large quantity of drugs was seized from Mahmood’s premises along with around £30,000 in cash. The Judge found that the offending drugs fell into Category 2 harm, not […]

Use of EncroChat phones for evidential purposes

We examine whether messages from an EncroChat phone can be used in evidence. A vast number of cases are awaiting a criminal trial that will rely, to a greater or lesser extent, on the admissibility of communications made via the supposedly highly encrypted Encrochat service. The Court of Appeal has now issued a ruling following […]

When Life is Life

When a life sentence is imposed, a tariff is attached to it. This tariff is the minimum amount of time that a person must spend in custody before being considered for parole and release. In certain circumstances, a whole life tariff (order) can be imposed, which means that the person will never be released. Whole […]

Custody time limits & Covid19

Whenever a person is remanded in custody in criminal proceedings, a time limit is set within which the trial must be concluded. The Covid lockdown meant that trials were temporarily suspended leading to issues with custody time limits, if a trial cannot take place within the specified timeframe an application can be made for the […]

Reviewing a Criminal Sentence

If the Attorney General believes that a sentence is “unduly lenient”, or too soft as the newspapers may say, she can ask for the case to be referred back to court to be reconsidered. This is what happened to Taha Amin. He pleaded guilty to several robberies and thefts and was sentenced to 23 months’ […]

Blaming a third party by way of defence

Blaming a third party by way of defence It is often the case that a defendant does not dispute that a crime has been committed but denies any participation. In such cases, it will be not only essential to challenge any evidence that points to the defendant as being guilty but also look for evidence […]