Month: September 2016

26.09.16

Mirror's defence reinstated by Court of Appeal in Danny Simpson libel and defamation case

Background The Claimant is a Premier League footballer and his claim concerns an article published in the Daily Mirror on 16 November 2012. The article was a story about the Claimant’s relationships with his long-term partner Stephanie Ward, and the celebrity former X-Factor judge, Tulisa Contostavlos, with whom the Claimant had a relationship between November 2012 and…

Struck off 'Harry Potter' solicitor fails in his bid for a rehearing

Alan Blacker, the colourful solicitor-advocate who was struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) in July following a two-day hearing (which he did not attend), has failed in his bid for a rehearing and ordered to pay a further £7,500 in costs. Mr Blacker, who uses the title Lord Harley of Counsel, initially faced eight…

DLA Piper partner fined for offensive email exchange with Premier League client

Nicholas West, partner of international law firm DLA Piper, has been find £15,000 by the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal (‘SDT’) for engaging in lewd and offensive emails with a representative of his client, the Premier League, in a case in which the line had been blurred between the solicitor and client’s and social relationships. Mr West’s conduct came…

22.09.16

Vulnerable victims – a trial before the trial

The New Lord Chancellor Liz Truss marked her first major policy announcement with efforts to make Crown Court trials a more suitable environment for vulnerable witnesses. It is intended that from January 2017 all vulnerable witnesses will be able to give their entire evidence (both in-chief, and cross-examination) before the actual trial in pre-recorded footage,…

19.09.16

Soviet dissident fails in trial of meaning against CPS

In Bukovsky v Crown Prosecution Service [2016] EWHC 1926 (QB), a Soviet dissident resident in England, was suing the Crown Prosecution Service (‘CPS’), the principal public prosecuting authority in England and Wales, for libel, misfeasance in public office, and breach of the Human Rights Act concerning a press release announcing that he was to be…

12.09.16

SFO Charges Tesco Executives

The Serious Fraud Office has charged three former executives of Tesco as part of its investigation into allegations that profits for the business were overstated in 2014. Carl Rogberg, Christopher Bush and John Scouler will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 22 September where they will face allegations of fraud by abuse of position and…

9.09.16

Freezing Injunctions: the need for certainty

A recent decision on a preliminary issue by Mr Justice Henderson in the case of Haederle  v Thomas [2016] EWHC 1866 is a telling reminder of the need for precision when drafting Freezing Injunctions (and Restraint Orders too). A Freezing Injunction (formerly known as a Mareva Order and sometimes referred to as a Freezing Order)…

7.09.16

Staggering rise in prosecutions for sexual and domestic violence offences

There are a number of catchy headline statistics to be taken from the recently published Crown Prosecution Service “Violence Against Women and Girls Crime Report 2015-2016”. Prosecutions for the new offence of disseminating revenge porn now exceed 200 and there have been five successful prosecutions for the new offence of using controlling and coercive behaviour….