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Why hasn’t Michael Gove been arrested?

A question on many people’s lips since the former Justice Secretary admitted to using cocaine several times earlier in his career. So, could he face the legal consequences of this? Cocaine is a Class A drug, the most serious category. Drug offences are governed by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and whilst buying a […]

Does Imprisonment Lead to Re-offending? Farmer Review for Women Highlights the Problems They Face

Prison is supposed to be hard. It is, after all, a punishment. But it’s also designed to help people address their behaviour and stop them re-offending. When imprisonment leads to more offending, it isn’t working. The specific problems faced by women have been highlighted recently by the Farmer Review for Women. Lord Farmer hopes to […]

Prosecuting Sexual Offences – Time for a rethink?

Justice, the renowned human rights organisation, has published a significant report that examines the prosecution of sexual offences, and in some areas calls for a radical overhaul. Among the authors of the report is Judge Peter Rook QC, a senior Judge at the Central Criminal Court (‘Old Bailey’) and considered an expert authority on this […]

Sally Challen – An Issue of Coercive Control

In February 2019 the Court of Appeal quashed Sally Challen’s conviction for the murder of her husband and ordered a retrial. Last week the prosecution accepted a plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter and Challen received a sentence that meant she would serve no further time in custody. Why was the appeal allowed? […]

Finn’s Law – What It Means

With much fanfare, ‘Finn’s Law’ came in to force on 8th June 2019, following the implementation of the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Act 2019. The 2019 Act makes a straightforward amendment to section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. What was the problem? Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act creates the criminal […]

Driving Bans – Not Just for Traffic Offences

Most people know that a driving ban may follow for serious road traffic offences or a series of lower-level traffic crimes as a result of ‘totting up’. Few of our client’s know that disqualifications can follow in other cases if a vehicle is used to facilitate the commission of an offence. What is the […]

Private Prosecutions – ‘Doing a Boris’

A District Judge sitting at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week authorised that a summons be issued against the prominent conservative member of parliament, Boris Johnson. The allegations relate to alleged conduct during the Brexit referendum campaign and in particular the £350m per week for the NHS slogan that adorned the side of campaign buses. Unless […]

Release on Temporary Licence

The government has conducted a review of the process for prisoners to be released on temporary licence (ROTL); the drive behind the changes being the rehabilitation of offenders. Research has shown that working in the community prior to release significantly reduces the likelihood of re-offending, and ex-offenders in employment are up to nine percentage points […]

Sentencing – Breaking the Code

Few people would disagree with the suggestion that sentencing law in England and Wales is a complete mess. The provisions that govern how a defendant is to be sentenced are both complex and disparate and to be found across a significant number of statutes. Why does this matter? Research has shown that thousands of sentencing […]

On the Balance of Probabilities – But What Does That Mean?

In criminal law, we use two different standards of proof, the most well known is ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ (although these days expressed as ‘so that you are sure’), and the balance of probabilities. Want to find out more about balance of probabilities vs beyond reasonable doubt? The latter standard of proof gets less attention but […]