A great many people are subject to restraining orders made under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997. The orders are designed to protect people from harassment and are commonly made in so-called ‘domestic violence’ cases. However, life moves on, and it is quite common for old relationships to be re-established. If this happens before an...
If you were able to listen in to a conference between client and solicitor, you might hear an exchange a little like this one: ‘What am I looking at?’ ‘Around 12-15 months, suspended if you are very lucky.’ ‘Oh, I can live with that!’ ‘But there is something else?’ ‘What?’ ‘You are going to lose...
One of the most serious offences that can come before a court is ‘perverting the course of justice’, this is because it strikes at the very heart of the justice system. Due to its seriousness, immediate custody almost always follows, yet there are a surprising number of people who commit this offence, thinking that they...
As businesses prepare for Christmas, it is customary to inform clients of seasonal opening hours. For many, it will simply be a case of announcing the days on which the business will be closed, but for us, the position is a little more complicated than that. We close, but we don’t. You see, our offices...
When the Director of Public Prosecutions writes to a national newspaper and apologises for a prosecution failure in an individual case, you know that something significant went wrong. Before exploring that however, it might be thought a great pity that she chose to write to a newspaper and not the actual person wrongly accused of...
Newspapers this week reported the following story: ‘The number of people arrested over terrorism-related offences in Britain has risen by 54% to 400 in one of the most intense periods for attacks in recent history. The Home Office said the increase in the year to September was due partly to the 64 arrests made after...
As Christmas approaches and we begin to let our hair down a little and enjoy the festivities, some people are enticed into the world of so-called ‘recreational drugs’. There are a great many substances that might properly be categorised as ‘recreational’, popular ones being cannabis and cocaine. First use often occurs at a party, perhaps...
Extradition is the formal process where one country asks another to return a person to stand trial or to serve a sentence. Under multilateral conventions and bilateral extradition treaties, the UK has extradition relations with over 100 territories around the world. What Is the Process? The requesting State contacts the UK authorities and makes an...
We talk a lot in this Country about the benefits of a jury trial, how leaving the decision in the hands of 12 people chosen at random, is the fairest way of securing justice, but how does a jury decide? There is a lot that we do not know Ironically, the process of how a...
‘Follow the money’ is a rather clichéd line from the film ‘All The President’s Men’ which charted the scandal that engulfed President Nixon in the 1970s. But even today, the money trail is very much the first line of investigation in serious fraud cases, and one that is increasingly difficult to follow. Not so long...