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Posted by edelegal | 27 April 2018| Blog

In the crown court, while a fine is not the most common punishment meted out, when they are imposed they tend to be very large.   Do I have to pay the fine all at once? Sometimes a court will order full payment (and may give a period of time for this to be completed),...

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Posted by edelegal | 23 April 2018| Blog

When clients turn their mind to what punishment they might receive if they plead guilty to, or are convicted of, a criminal offence, in most cases the thought is whether it might be a prison sentence, a community penalty, or a hefty fine.   While the substantive penalty is, of course, important, on occasion there...

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Posted by edelegal | 19 April 2018| Blog

A lot has been written in recent days about the sentence passed following Ant McPartlin’s (of ‘Ant and Dec’ fame) conviction for drink driving, in this article, we examine the case in a little more detail.   What offence was he charged with? McPartlin pleaded guilty to an offence of driving with excess alcohol (‘drink...

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Posted by edelegal | 16 April 2018| Blog

The High Court has given judgment in the first of what are referred to as ‘right to be forgotten’ cases. Two applicants referred to in the judgment as NT1 and NT2 had been convicted in the past of a criminal offence. In both cases, the convictions were rehabilitated so far as the Rehabilitation of Offenders...

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Posted by edelegal | 09 April 2018| Blog

The law of self-defence is again in the spotlight following the case of 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks who was briefly investigated after the fatal stabbing of a burglar who entered his property. Mr Osborn-Brooks woke in the early hours to find two men in his house and stabbed one of the intruders in the upper body,...

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Posted by edelegal | 04 April 2018| Blog

We are often asked questions about QCs, most probably because the image of leading barristers has been epitomised over the years in leading television dramas such as Silk and Kavanagh QC, it is therefore not surprising that you may want to discover more and consider whether you ought to instruct a QC to defend your...

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Posted by edelegal | 03 April 2018| Blog

There is a specific offence of dangerous driving, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 2 years. If that driving is a cause of someone’s death, the maximum sentence rises to one of 14 years. In each case there are minimum disqualification periods, very lengthy actual disqualifications and insurance premiums which will be significant for...

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Posted by edelegal | 23 March 2018| Blog

The DBS is a government organisation responsible for the reporting of convictions and other information to employers and other relevant organisations.   What Data is Held? The DBS holds three classes of information: Class 1: spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings Class 2: class 1 information plus police intelligence information (for example...

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Posted by edelegal | 19 March 2018| Blog

It can be a temptation to family members, and to others perhaps for financial gain, to seek to convey articles into prisons. The chance of being detected is high and possibly for that reason many who might otherwise be tempted to do so, resist. Section 40CB of the Prison Act 1952 makes it an offence...

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Posted by edelegal | 16 March 2018| Blog

In Entick v Carrington (1765), a case concerning the entry to and searching of premises, the court ruled: “…if this is law it would be found in our books, but no such law ever existed in this country; our law holds the property of every man so sacred, that no man can set his foot...

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