The Supreme Court has lashed out at the “morass” of criminal justice legislation which left prosecutors, defence and the courts baffled by the sentence of a low-level offender.
Granting the prisoner’s appeal unanimously, the country’s highest court held that the then secretary of state’s policy for calculating a release date for consecutive sentences was unlawful.
A convicted terrorist has won leave to appeal after his legal team convinced appeal court judges that evidence of UK complicity was substantial enough to support a case.
Rangzieb Ahmed's counsel, Joel Bennathan QC, told the judges that the British intelligence agencies were significantly linked to the torture which took place in Pakistan, in which Mr Adhmed's fingernails were ripped out by interrogators.
The Ministry of Justice has launched a comprehensive review of the family justice system, including both public law and private law.
“In public law this means looking at how the courts, with other agencies, manage cases involving children and the public care system,” Jonathan Djanogly, legal aid and civil justice minister, told the Commons today.
Law firms will pick up 60 per cent of the practising certificate fee from October this year under proposals put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The SRA board agreed at its latest meeting that solicitors will pay a “much reduced” individual PC fee of about £460, with firms paying a separate fee based on turnover.
Under this new hybrid mechanism, the overall fee for a firm with 45 fee earners and a £6m turnover will be £53,115.
Radical plans to pay voluntary and private sector organisations by results in keeping former offenders out of the criminal justice system were revealed by justice secretary Ken Clarke today.
Clarke said the new approach, which “some of my colleagues might call part of the Big Society”, would give organisations “clear financial incentives” to keep offenders away from crime.
