The crime team produce regular legal updates in order to supplement their seminar training activities. These updates can be accessed from this page by following the links below. New updates will be announced in the "What's new" section of the website. See bottom of page for how to join our mailing list to receive future editions by email.

......................................................................................................

Issue 33. Criminal Law update 4/3/12

In this edition:

• Bad character – applications by co-accused – Criminal Justice Act 2003 section 101 (1) (e)
• Good character
• Hearsay
• Hearsay evidence – memory refreshing and section 120 CJA 2003
• Police Officers on Juries
• Video-recorded evidence
• Loss of control – partial defence to murder
• Life imprisonment and Article 3
• Discount for plea of guilty
• Guideline on sentences for drug offences
• Sentences for dangerous offenders

> click here to read the 4/5/12 update

Issue 32. Criminal Law update 1/12/11

In this edition:

• Swearing at police officers
• Arrest
• Stop and search powers
• Abuse of process
• Bad character directions
• Hearsay
• Errant jurors
• When manslaughter verdict is an alternative to murder
• Theft and robbery
• Young persons in the Crown Court
• Imprisonment for Public Protection
• Restraining order on acquittal
• Amending the indictment
• Witness in court before giving evidence
• Suspended sentences
• Determinate sentences following a life sentence
• Sentencing – manslaughter
• Sentencing for historic sexual offences
• Sentencing guidelines – Burglary
• Sexual Offences Prevention Orders

> click here to read the 1/12/11 update

Issue 31. Criminal Law update 2/8/11

• Contempt of Court – juror misconduct
• Delay
• Bad character – scope of s. 98 (b)
• Bad character – s. 101 (1) (d)
• Bad character – s. 101 (1) (g)
• Hearsay
• Special measures
• Breach of ASBO
• Murder – Minimum terms – knife attacks
• Sentencing – Indictment
• Sentencing – provocation as mitigation
• Sentence – Robbery
• Indefinite sentences and dangerousness
• Sexual Offences Prevention Orders
• Inappropriate cross-examination by prosecution counsel
• Police (Detention and Bail) Act 2011

> click here to read the 2/8/11 update

Issue 30. Criminal Law update 23/5/11

• Abuse of Process
• Adverse inferences
• Remands in custody of children and young persons
• Sentence – Manslaughter – diminished responsibility
• Time on remand and suspended sentences
• Attorney-General’s References – new material
• Evidence – Hearsay – text messages and other communications to and from defendants
• Juries – Prison officers as jurors
• Jury consulting the internet

> click here to read the 23/5/11 update

Issue 29. Criminal Law update 22/3/11

• Video evidence
• Credit for guilty pleas
• Sentencing – manslaughter – provocation
• Sentencing – child manslaughter
• Sentencing – Low Level Cannabis Production
• Sentencing – guideline for assault and other offences against the person
• Bad character
• Robbery of drug dealers
• Defence witness notices
• PCMH Forms
• Adverse inferences
• Arrest – PACE 1984 section 24
• Money Laundering
• Jurors – police officers and CPS employees
• Hearsay in confiscation proceedings
• Sexual Offences

> click here to read 22/3/11 update

Special edition. Criminal Law update 25/2/11

• New Defence Disclosure Time Limit Regulations from Monday 28.2.11
• New PCMH protocol in Manchester (and surrounds) from Monday 28.2.11 – defence statement must be served before PCMH will go ahead.
• March 2011 seminar: “Showing your hand - Defence Disclosure”

> click here to read the 25/2/11 update

Issue 28. Criminal Law update 25/1/11

• Admissions and confessions (Charles v DPP)
• Bad character (R v Mullings and R v Olu and others)
• Defence statements
• Shaken baby cases
• Sentence – murder – mercy killing (R v Inglis)
• Extended sentences
• Reverse burdens (R v Webster)
• Duties of solicitors and counsel (R v Anderson)
• Confiscation orders
• Restraining orders (R v Major)

> click here to read the 25/1/11 update

Issue 27. Criminal Law update 25/11/10

• Access to a solicitor
• Defence statements (R v Rochford)
• Bad character
• Deportation of offenders
• Asylum seekers and false identity documents
• Human Trafficking
• Sexual history evidence
• Implementing suspended sentences – credit for time on remand
• Footwear impressions
• Hearsay
• Joint enterprise murder
• The partial defence of Provocation

> click here to read the 25/11/10 update

Issue 26. Criminal Law update 01/09/10

• Joint enterprise murder
• Shaken baby cases
• Bad character
• Hearsay
• Legal professional privilege
• Indictments
• Sentence Calculation
• Imprisonment for Public Protection
• Life Sentences v. IPP
• Use of internet by jurors
• Trial on indictment without a jury
• Criminal Procedure Rules
• Inconsistent verdicts
• Goodyear Indications
• Case Management in the Magistrates' Court
• Death by dangerous driving

> click here to read the 01/09/10 update

Issue 25. Criminal Law update 26/05/10

• Notification of defence witnesses
• Search Warrants
• Indictments
• Hearsay evidence
• The liability of secondary parties in murder
• Defence statements
• Bail
• Imprisonment for public protection – setting the minimum term
• CJA 2003 Schedule 15A – robbery whilst in possession of firearm
• Sentencing Young Offenders – Rape of a child under 13
• Sex Offender Notification Requirements
• Coroners and Justice Act 2009

> click here to read 26/05/10 update

Issue 24. Criminal Law update 25/03/10

• Search warrants
• Criminal Procedure Rules
• Code for Crown Prosecutors
• Second re-trials
• Disclosure
• DPP policy – encouraging or assisting suicide
• Coroners and Justice Act 2009
• Sentencing – guideline on Corporate Manslaughter
• Consecutive sentences
• Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
• Alternative verdicts
• ‘Lifestyle evidence’ and bad character
• Murder – minimum term – use of knife
• Serious Crime Prevention Orders
• Discount for assisting the prosecuting authorities
• Defence Statements
  

>click here to read 25/03/2010 update

Issue 23. Criminal Law update 20/01/10

• Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA revisited
• Evidence - Joint enterprise murder
• Evidence - Hearsay
• Evidence - Bad character
• Sentencing
• Firearms
• Unlawful Act Manslaughter
• Consecutive sentences and HDC
• A policeman's lot is not a happy one

> click here to read 20/01/2010 update

Issue 22. Criminal Law update 11/12/09

• Youth Sentencing Changes
• Youth Sentencing Guidelines
• The perils of telephone cell site evidence
• Acceptance of pleas
• Bad character
• Assault on Police
• Sexual Offences Prevention Order
• The Coroners and Justice Act 2009
• The Police and Crime Act 2009

> click here to read 11/12/09 update

Issue 21. Criminal Law update 29/10/09

• Hearsay
• Bad character
• Retrial for serious offence
• Evidence - facial mapping
• Sentences
• Life sentences and IPP

> click here to read 29/10/09 update

Issue 20. Criminal Law update 02/09/09

• Jury tampering/ trial by judge alone
• Appeals – Citation of authorities
• Diminished responsibility
• Hearsay and the European Convention
• Confiscation
• Police Officers on Juries
• Guideline on sentences for attempted murder
• Deduction of credit for guilt plea following change of account in PSR
• Capacity to consent in sexual cases
• Sex offender notification requirements
• Indictments

> click here to read 02/09/09 update

Issue 19. Criminal Law update 22/05/09

• Doli incapax
• Newton hearings
• Hearsay
• Handcuff applications
• Juries
• Legal professional privilege
• Terrorism (...and photos of London buses)
• Defence statements

> click here to read 22/05/09 update

Issue 18. Criminal Law update 05/03/09

• Defence case statements
• Hearsay and the European Convention
• Hopeless appeals and loss of time directions
• The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

> click here to read 05/03/09 update

Issue 17. Criminal Law update 15/12/08

• Identity Cards Act 2006 prosecutions and victims of trafficking
• Witness anonymity
• Evidence - Hearsay
• Police - Power of Arrest
• Search warrant
• Juries - Bias
• Verdict
• Recovery of Defence Costs Orders
• Unfitness to plead
• Sentencing
• Sex offender notification requirements
• Confiscation Orders
• Appeals
• Applications for 2 advocate orders in the Crown Court
• Delay in making an allegation of rape
• Sentencing Guidelines

> click here to read 15/12/08 update

Issue 16. Criminal Law update 18/09/08

• The Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008
• Bad character
• Voice recognition evidence
• Passing sentences consecutively to indeterminate sentences
• Confiscation orders

> click here to read 18/09/08 update

Issue 15. Criminal Law update 14/07/08

• The Criminal Justice & Immigration Act 2008 (focus on new provisions in force as of 14th July 2008).
• The anonymity of witnesses in criminal trials
• Evidence
• Confiscation
• Mens rea in joint enterprise murder
• Capacity to consent in sexual cases
• Sentencing Guidelines for Magistrates? Court

> click here to read 14/7/08 update

Issue 14. Criminal Law update 18/05/08

• The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
• Bad Character
• Police officers on jury service
• Money laundering & confiscation
• Custody time limits
• Terrorism
• Inferences from silence
• Summary Offences
• Sentencing
• Identification by ear prints

> click here to read 18/05/08 update

Issue 13. Criminal Law update 27/02/08

• Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs)
• Other sentencing
• Goodyear Indications
• Money Laundering
• Terrorism Offences
• Bad Character evidence
• Hearsay evidence
• Trial in absence of accused
• PACE Codes of Practice
• Delay

> click here to read 27/02/08 update

Issue 12. Criminal Law update 07/01/08

• Low Copy Number DNA ? are previous convictions safe?
• Imprisonment for public protection
• Hearsay and identification
• Bail
• Bad character
• Police officers on juries
• Indictments
• Alternative verdicts

> click here to read 07/01/08 update

Issue 11. Criminal Law update 27/11/07

• Conviction of co-accused
• Jury composition and certainty of verdicts
• Sentencing cases caselaw update
• Representation Orders
• Hearsay
• Legal representation
• Serious Crime Act 2007

> click here to read 27/11/07 update

Issue 10. Criminal Law update 8/10/07

• IPP sentences
• Bad character - CJA 2003
• Hearsay - CJA 2003
• Jury composition
• Goodyear indications
• Revised guidelines on guilty pleas
• Legal professional privilege
• New procedures
• Trial in absence of the accused

> click here to read 8/10/2007 update

Issue 9. Criminal Law update 19/02/07

• "Special measures" for certain defendants
• Life sentences and IPPs
• Evidence of Bad Character - CJA 2003
• Trial of specimen counts without a jury
• Causing death by dangerous driving / careless driving when under the influence
• Hearsay evidence - CJA 2003
• Detention and Training Orders
• The duty of counsel
• Drugs
• Delay
• Expert's reports
• Appeals (Loss of time)
• Adducing interview of a co-accused
• Crediting time on remand

> click here to read 19/02/07 update

Issue 8. Criminal Law update 01/01/07

• Important changes to the Bail Act: in force 1st January 2007

> click here to read 01/01/07 update

Issue 7. Criminal Law update 05/12/06

• Crediting time spent on remand
• Sexual history evidence
• Bad character
• Legal professional privelege
• Sentencing
• Immigration and Criminal law

> click here to read 05/12/06 update

Issue 6. Criminal Law update 25/07/06

• Reviews of sentence by the A-G
• Forms - Hearsay
• Family Impact Statements
• Bad Character
• Witness anonymity
• Sentencing in cases under the Sexual Offences Act 2003
• Credit for guilty pleas
• Referrals by the CCRC
• Bail hearings
• Defence statements
• Hearsay
• Dangerous Offenders
• Life sentences and IPP
• Crediting time on remand - CJA 2003 s.240

> click here to read 25/07/2006 update

Issue 5. Criminal Law update 08/05/06

• Bad character
• Hearsay
• Procedure
• Disclosure
• Codes of practice
• ASBOs
• Evidence
• Sexual Offences

> click here to read 08/05/2006 update

Issue 4. Criminal Law update 06/12/05

• Hearsay
• ASBOs
• Credit for time on remand
• Sentences for attempted murder
• Drugs
• Bad Character
• Life sentences
• Manslaughter by reason of provocation

> Click here to read 06/12/2005 update

Issue 3. Criminal Law update 22/09/05

• Bad Character provisions of the CJA 2003: some recent cases
• Crediting periods of remand in custody (S.I. 2005 No 2054).

> Click here to read 22/09/2005 update

Issue 2. Criminal Law update 07/07/05

• Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004
• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
• Drugs Act 2005
• Caselaw update

> Click here to read 07/07/2005 update

Issue 1. Crimimal Law update 30/05/05

• Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
• The Drugs Act 2005

> Click here to read 30/05/2005 update

Archive. Criminal Law update 14/12/04

• CJA 2003: sections 98 to 110 and 112 (bad character) come into force on 15th December 2004
• Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004: sections 10 to 31 (not yet in force)

> Click here to read 14/12/2004 update

......................................................................................................

Notification of new updates

If you would like to receive an email alert when a new criminal law update is published on our webiste, please complete a feedback form , noting your request to "Receive Criminal law update alerts" in the subject line and provide details of your name, firm and email address.