Courts
Minister
defends forces cash move - 3 August
Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell has defended the government's
decision to appeal against compensation given to two wounded
soldiers. He said accepting the payouts would have been "unfair
and disadvantaging" to more seriously injured personnel. - BBC
News website
Criminal
Justice System
New
bid to cut youth re-offending - 3 August
More than £8m will be spent over the next two years in a bid to
reduce youth re-offending in England and Wales, the government has
announced. Justice Minister Claire Ward said the money will be spent
on resettlement programmes for young offenders when they leave
prison.Latest figures show that the frequency of youth re-offending
has fallen by over 23% and a drop of 10% in the number of young
people entering the criminal justice system. - BBC
News website
Probationers
commit murder a week - 31 July
Criminals on probation committed more than 1 000 serious crimes over
the last two years, including nearly one murder a week in England
and Wales. The government figures give details of the 1 167 offences
committed by people being supervised by probation officers. The
total included 94 murders, 105 rapes and 43 arson attacks. - BBC
News website
Appeals
extend 52 jail sentences - 4 August
More than 50 criminals had their sentences increased last year after
they were found to be "unduly lenient", the Attorney
General's Office has said. - BBC
News website
Minister
visits Lockerbie bomber - 4 August
Scotland's justice secretary is to visit the Lockerbie bomber later
amid speculation he might be moved to Libya. Kenny MacAskill will
meet Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi in Greenock Prison as he considers a
transfer request from the Libyan government. Terminally-ill Megrahi
has also asked to be freed on compassionate grounds. - BBC
News website
Lockerbie
bomber 'to be released' - 13 August
The Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is likely to be
freed on compassionate grounds next week, the BBC understands.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, is
serving life for murdering 270 people when Pan Am flight 103
exploded in 1988. Scottish ministers described the development as
"complete speculation". - BBC
News website
Lockerbie
bomber withdraws appeal - 14 August
The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has applied to abandon
his second appeal against his conviction, his lawyers have said. The
news comes after the BBC reported that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi
looked set to be freed on compassionate grounds next week. Lawyers
said his condition had taken a "significant turn for the
worse". They said he had applied to the High Court in Edinburgh
two days ago to abandon his appeal against conviction. - BBC
News website
Train
robber Biggs awaits release - 7 August
Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is preparing for his formal release
from prison after being granted freedom on compassionate grounds.
Biggs is severely ill with pneumonia and Justice Secretary Jack
Straw approved his release on Thursday after being told he is
unlikely to recover. - BBC News
website
Great
Train Robber Biggs released - 7 August
Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs has been formally released from
prison after being granted freedom on compassionate grounds. His son
Michael emerged from the hospital with his father's release papers
and said : "my father is now a free man and that's all there is
to say. It was very emotional when the guards left". Hospital
officials said Biggs' treatment would not change. They said he would
remain on a general ward with other elderly patients until he was
deemed fit to leave by doctors. - BBC
News website
Couple
behind Baby P death named - 11 August
The couple responsible for the death of 17-month-old Baby Peter have
been named after a court anonymity order expired. The boy died at
the hands of his mother Tracey Connelly and her partner Steven
Barker, of Haringey, north London. The third defendant in the case
has also been named as Jason Owen Barker's brother. Peter had more
50 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken back, when he was
found dead in August 2007. It has also been revealed that the
brothers were charged with assaulting their own grandmother in 1995
in an attempt to make her change her will. It can also be reported
that Baby Peter had four siblings. A judge had ordered none of the
defendants be named because the other children were still being
placed with alternative carers. The notoriety of the Baby Peter case
is such that all three convicted people are likely to be given new
identities upon release to protect them from vigilante attacks. - BBC
News website
Baby
P : catalogue of failings resulted in death - 11 August
A catalogue of failings and systemic errors that could have
prevented Baby Peter's death have been disclosed. New details of
the appalling suffering the 17 month-old toddler endured during
his short life can also be disclosed for the first time today, as
well as further details of the failure by Haringey Council and
other authorities to protect him. - Telegraph
website
The
Haringey six sacked over Baby P failings - 11 August
All but one of the seven social workers, doctors and council
managers implicated in the failings of care over Baby Peter have
been sacked since the trial of his tormentors last year. All six
have either appealed the decision, are suing for unfair dismissal
or seeking a judicial review over the way in which their
employment was terminated. - Telegraph
website
Sharon
Shoesmith's four legal claims - 12 August
Sharon Shoesmith could be in line for substantial compensation after
she launched four different legal claims following her sacking last
year as director of children's services at Haringey Council. - Telegraph
website
Baby
P's father says he will sue 'negligent' Haringey Council - 12
August
The father, who cannot be named, claims that he told social workers
five months before Peter's death in August 2007 that he was in
danger from Steven Barker, the lover of the boy's mother, Tracey
Connelly. He also alleges that no background checks were made. - Times
Online website
Cyberlaw
Two
convicted for refusal to decrypt data - 11 August
Two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide
authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark
convictions that may have carried jail sentences of up to five
years. - The Register
website
Emigration
and Immigration
'Tough'
citizenship test outlined - 3 August
Immigrants hoping to settle permanently in the UK would face tougher
citizenship tests under proposals due to be outlined by the home
secretary. Alan Johnson says he wants behaviour as well as
qualifications and skills taken into account in what have been
called penalties on "un-British" activity. His words have
been seen as a warning to those taking part in activities such as
protests at soldiers' parades. - BBC
News website
Environment
Corby
'toxic soup' case : why it's a long way from being over - 6
August
The satisfaction of the Corby families last week about the High
Court ruling over the link between the reclamation work of a former
British Steel plant between 1985 and 1999 and the disabilities
suffered by their children might have suggested that the
compensation cheques had already being written. But, as the battle
moves away from the general to the particular, City lawyers were
warning that individual families may face a long struggle to prove
causality with their particular child. - Times
Online website
Birth
defect families get £1.6m - 14 August
A council in Northamptonshire at the centre of a birth defects case
has been ordered to pay affected families an initial £1.6m to cover
legal fees. Corby Borough Council was found to be negligent in its
clean-up of former steel works in the town, which may have led to
birth defects in 16 children. - BBC
News website
Finance
Auditors
cleared in landmark negligence case - 30 July
Auditors preparing for a surge in legal action arising from the
financial crisis received a boost today after Britain's highest
court threw out a multimillion-pound negligence case against Moore
Stephens, a City accounting firm. On their last day sitting before
moving to the new supreme court, the law lords ruled that Moore
Stephens was not liable for failing to uncover a long-running $95
million (£58 million) fraud at Stone & Rolls, a commodity
trader it audited from 1997 to 2001. - Times
Online website
New
rules on bonuses 'this week' - 9 August
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to publish a code this
week setting out how banks will have to change their policies on pay
and bonuses. - BBC News website
Banks
given new rules on bonuses - 12 August
New rules on how financial institutions should determine pay and
bonuses for staff have been set out by the Financial Services
Authority (FSA). It wants to see bankers' pay deals linked far more
closely with the long-term profitability of the banks. The FSA says
that bonuses should not be guaranteed for more than a year, and that
senior employees should have their bonuses spread over three years.
Many believe that big bonuses led to excessive risk-taking at banks.
- BBC News website
More
banks told 'reveal accounts' - 13 August
More than 300 UK and foreign banks have been told to hand over
details of UK taxpayers who have accounts offshore. The order was
made by the First-tier Tax Tribunal, the newly established tribunal
to resolve tax disputes. The HMRC is about to launch a second offer
to people to confess if they have been hiding untaxed money abroad.
- BBC News website
See
also : Europe.
Switzerland, UBS settle US tax case
Human
Rights
New
ruling gives people with mental illness conditions the same human
rights as others - 4 August
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has welcomed a Court of
Appeal ruling which found that people with mental illnesses are
protected from discrimination by the European Convention on Human
Rights. The ruling clarified a grey area in the law. - eGov
Monitor website
Suicide
guidance will apply to UK - 4 August
Guidelines on assisted suicide will apply in the UK as well as
overseas, the Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed. Debbie
Purdy wanted to know if her husband would be prosecuted if he helped
her end her life in Switzerland. It was assumed that new guidance
would affect only those who go abroad to die. Under the 1961
Suicide Act covering England and Wales, those who aid, abet,
counsel or procure someone else's suicide can be prosecuted and
sentenced to serve up to 14 years in jail. Ms Purdy, from
Undercliffe in Bradford, West Yorkshire, took her case to the
highest court in the country after the High Court and Court of
Appeal held that it was for Parliament, not the courts, to change
the law. - BBC News website
See
:
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) on appeal
from Queen's Bench Division
Hearing date : 3 February 2009
(2009)
159 NLJ 309, [2009] 1 Cr App R 32, [2009] EWCA Civ 92
Purdy, R v Director of Public Prosecutions and Others
Keyphrase :
Assisted suicide
Iraq
inquiry sessions to be held in secret even where no national
security involved - 31 July
Witnesses will be able to give evidence to the inquiry into the
Iraq war in secret even when matters of national security are
not involved, its chairman has said. Sir John Chilcot suggested
that whistleblowers would be able to speak with greater
"candour and openness" if their evidence was held
behind closed doors. But critics including Opposition parties
said that the public had a right to hear all the evidence
presented to the inquiry, which Sir John disclosed was not
likely to report back until the end of next year at the
earliest. - BBC News
website
Labour
Issues
Pension
age 'could rise further' - 8 August
The state pension retirement age could be increased further, the
UK's pensions regulator has told the BBC. David Norgrove said rising
life expectancy meant millions of people would
"undoubtedly" have to wait longer in future to draw a
state pension. People will not save as much for retirement as in the
past, with many people "frightened" to do so, he said. The
state pension age is due to rise to 68, and Pensions Minister Angela
Eagle said there were no plans to raise that. - BBC
News website
Woman
wins clothes store tribunal - 13 August
A disabled woman from north-west London has won her employment
tribunal against clothing giant Abercrombie and Fitch. Riam Dean,
22, who has a prosthetic arm, claimed she was "diminished"
for not fitting the "look policy" at the Savile Row store
in central London. A central London tribunal awarded Miss Dean £8
000 for unlawful harassment and ruled that Abercrombie and Fitch
failed to comply with employment law. But the tribunal found Miss
Dean did not suffer disability discrimination. - BBC
News website
Land
Affairs and Property
New
rights for tenants facing eviction when landlords are repossessed
- 6 August
Housing Minister John Healey today set out plans to give new legal
protection to tenants vulnerable to being thrown out on the street
with little or no notice if their private landlord is repossessed.
- eGov Monitor website
The
conquerors are coming, Pierre : we Brits need more land - 26
July
It's very obvious the country is not just full. It's actually
starting to burst. Plainly, the planning regulations are to blame.
You aren't allowed to build anything on Farmer Giles's cabbages
unless you join the freemasons. And since most people don't wish
to have their tongues pulled out for blabbing about the stupid
handshake, developers are being forced to erect new dwellings in
urban back yards. Which causes even more friction with the
neighbours whose view is about to be ruined. The obvious solution
is to spread out a bit. Scotland is the obvious answer, but it
can't be a very nice place to live, or there wouldn’t be so many
Scottish people in London. - Jeremy Clarkson on the Times
Online website
Taxation
Law
UK
and Liechtenstein in tax deal - 11 August
The UK is expected to sign a deal to recover lost tax from Britons
holding bank accounts in Liechtenstein. HM Revenue & Customs
(HMRC) has agreed with the Alpine tax haven to start exchanging
information. Up to 5 000 British investors have an estimated £3bn
stashed away in secret accounts in the country. Investors are
expected to be offered the chance to volunteer details of their
deposits in return for limited penalties and low risk of
prosecution. - BBC News website
Miscellaneous
'Payout'
for UK terror victims - 13 August
British victims of terrorist attacks abroad could be compensated by
the government, it has emerged. At the moment victims or their
relatives are not entitled to payments if they are killed or injured
in a foreign country. But the Ministry of Justice says ministers are
looking at providing "further support" for them. The
government is also considering pay-outs for past victims, such as
the 200 Britons in the Bali and Mumbai attacks. - BBC
News website
Graduates
to get gap-year money - 1 August
The government is to pay for graduates struggling to get a job to go
on trips abroad, The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
has confirmed. It said the scheme will be launched with expedition
company Raleigh International next week. It will pay for 500 young
people under the age of 24 to travel to places such as Costa Rica
and India to take part in projects such as building schools. It
comes as graduates face an increasingly tough job market. - BBC
News website
Pregnant
prisoner returns to UK - 7 August
A pregnant Briton jailed for life in Laos for heroin smuggling has
arrived back in the UK. Samantha Orobator, 20, from Peckham, south
London, was caught with 1.5lb (680g) of the drug at Wattay airport
in the capital, Vientiane, last August. She escaped the death
penalty because she became pregnant in jail and will now complete
her sentence in the UK. - BBC News
website
Keyphrase
:
Drug smuggling