South Downs Law

06/04/2024

The cost of housing a convicted criminal in prison in England and Wales has exceeded £50,000 a year, surpassing the annual fees for a pupil at Eton College. The rising number of offenders being jailed has led to an annual bill of over £4bn for running prisons - The Telegraph.

28/03/2024

Secret papers reveal Post Office knew its court defence was false - BBC News

Draft report seen by BBC confirms Post Office knew of IT vulnerabilities before Bates v Post Office case.

25/03/2024

Prison treated solicitor with ‘institutional indifference’

Practitioner obtains writ of habeas corpus for wrongfully detained offender.

21/03/2024

A worrying case - Man kept in prison when he should have been released / Kim, R (On the Application Of) v Governor of His Majesty's Prison Wandsworth [2024] EWHC 645 (Admin) (21 March 2024)

8.1 At 6.28 p.m., Mr Dalton spoke to an employee at the prison who refused to put him through to, or even provide the name of, the duty governor. He was told to email the Offender Management Unit (the "OMU") but the employee could not confirm whether they would respond that day.

09/03/2024

The Youth Custody Service has published provisional data on the numbers of children and young adults in custody - The number of under 18s in custody for January 2024 was 397.

08/03/2024

Thompson v Crime Prosecution Service [2024] EWHC 470 (Admin) - case re statutory definition of a “zombie knife” in para 1(s) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 and whether a knife within the possession of the appellant fell within that definition.

07/03/2024

Crime News: Newly amended crime contract and guidance - GOV.UK

Working with the Law Society and Association of Prison Lawyers, the LAA have amended the crime contract and associated guidance.

06/03/2024

National media editors unite in protest with a joint letter to Home Office PR Team – The Justice Gap

The Home Office have been accused of using the publication of the 361-page Sarah Everard report on Thursday last week as an excuse to ‘bury bad news’ on immigration.

06/03/2024

A two-year delay in scheduling more than 180 r**e trials is a “serious stain” on the criminal justice system, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales said yesterday.

Lord Justice Edis plans to bring almost all of these cases to trial before the end of July.

03/03/2024

Minister: Magistrates can act on controversial Single Justice Procedure cases | Evening Standard

Single Justice Procedure cases have been under the spotlight after a slew of harsh convictions were uncovered

20/02/2024

Inspectors lay out CPS recruitment and retention difficulties - Legal Futures

A quarter of the 180 pupil barristers who joined the CPS trainee scheme between 2016 and 2022 left within 12 months of qualifying, according to a report highlighting its problems with retention.

13/02/2024

MPs to grill Ministry of Justice officials on National Audit Office's damning legal aid report | Law Gazette

Public accounts committee seeks evidence from practitioners before questioning MoJ permanent secretary and LAA chief executive.