Expert Witness : Criminal

Confiscation proceedings are underway to recover assets following the successful prosecution of a 15-strong criminal gang who attempted to defraud in excess of £176m in VAT through complex mobile phone trading scams – a so-called 'carousel fraud'. The ring leader, Dilawar Ravjani, was jailed for 17 years: the longest sentence ever given to an individual in the UK for this type of fraud.

The gang claimed to have sold four million mobile phones worth £1.7bn. In many cases the phones did not exist and the fraud came to light when they claimed to have sold thousands which were of models not then available in the UK. Over 5,700 fake business transactions were created, including many by vans crossing and re-crossing the Channel and amassing paperwork.

The public can now track online what happened after a crime was committed in their neighbourhood, using new data published on the Government's crime mapping website, Police.uk. In this new development, residents can not only access street-level crime data but also see what action the local police have taken as a result. The site will also start to show whether offenders went to court.

Norwegian Anders Breivik killed 77 people last year, as a statement against Norway’s liberal immigration policies. He was a member of an extreme right wing group and a product of a dysfunctional childhood. But was he rational and deliberate, or just mad? The Conversation reports.

Published in collaboration with The Conversation, a website that features commentary, research and analysis from Australian universities and the CSIRO.

On July 22, 2011, Norwegian Anders Breivik killed 77 people, as a statement against Norway’s liberal immigration policies. He was a member of an extreme right wing group and a product of a dysfunctional childhood. But was he rational and deliberate, or just mad?

A new, second edition of the ACPO Guidance on the Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody has been published. The guidance focuses on practical issues within custody and aims to provide a definitive guide to police forces on strategic and operation policies to raise standards of care within custody.

Along with ACPO itself and the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), the guidance was shaped by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The IPCC made a number of recommendations on best practice as a result of learning from its investigations into deaths and serious injuries, complaints appeals and its Study of Deaths in or Following Police Custody, which have been reflected in the new guidance.