Criminal Law

9.06.12

Police ordered to pay £125,000 damages after losing murder libel trial

Bedfordshire Police has been ordered to pay Amilton Bento £125,000 in damages after the Force made a statement at a press conference in July 2009 which suggested that he had killed his girlfriend Kamila Garsztka.  Ms Garsztka’s body had been found in a lake in 2006. Mr Bento was convicted of murdering Ms Garsztka at Luton Crown Court in 2007.  As a…

29.05.12

Divisional Court divided on Twitter bomb hoax case

The appeal by way of case stated in the “twitter bomb hoax” case has ended in stalemate and a new appeal being ordered.  Nearly months after the hearing the Judicial Office has announced that the two judges hearing the case – Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Irwin – are unable to agree on a decision.  stalemates such as…

27.05.12

Ban on filming in court to be relaxed

A Crime and Courts bill has been announced in the Queen’s speech that will partially lift the ban on filming in court.  Broadcasting will be introduced initially at the Court of Appeal, where filming will be permitted of opening and closing legal arguments and the judgments handed down.  The Government has said that it will also consider allowing…

5.04.12

No statutory or other basis to apportion benefit between co-defendants

Anyone harbouring any doubt about the harsh effect that can be produced by a strict application of the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 would be well advised to read the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lambert and Walding 2012 EWCA 421 into which the Home secretary sought fit to intervene. Having been…

Costs of private prosecution should be assessed under civil costs regime

The recent trend whereby media corporations seek to further their commercial disputes in the criminal courts by exercising the right to bring a private prosecution could now be checked in light of the recent decision in Karen Murphy v Media Protection services Ltd [2012] EWHC 529. Karen Murphy, lest it be forgotten, was the pub landlady…

19.03.12

Unlawful seizure of cash is no bar to forfeiture

In the secretary of state for the Home Department v Tuncel and Basbaydar [2012] EWHC 402 Keith J was effectively asked to determine the question of whether an unlawful seizure of cash precludes forfeiture under section 298 POCA 2002. Mr Tuncel and Mr Basbaydar had been trying to board a plane to Istanbul at Heathrow when customs…

15.03.12

Frozen bank account and no explanation – an overview of suspicious Activity Reports and the high street bank customer from Brett Wilson LLP civil fraud solicitors.

suspicious Activity Reports (sARs) have been with us for over 10 years, but to many outside the Regulated sector they are a somewhat unfamiliar concept. The number of sARs has increased steadily.  The latest available statistics (October 2009-september 2010) show that nearly 250,000 sARs are made each year.  So what exactly is a sAR, what goes on behind…

1.03.12

Assets acquired after confiscation are a legitimate target for pre-POCA cases

In the matter of Peacock [2012] UKsC 5 the supreme Court was asked to decide whether assets acquired perfectly legitimately after a confiscation order made under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, can lawfully be assessed against the benefit figure in that Order for the purpose of a re-determination. In January 1997, the Appellant pleaded guilty to conspiring to…

20.02.12

CPs ordered to pay damages for for failing to protect individual from harassment

In R (Waxman) -v- CPs, QBD (Admin) (2 February 2012), Moore-Bick LJ considered the state’s responsibility to prosecute alleged criminal offences, an individual’s access to the civil courts and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The Claimant had met F at college.  F had become obsessed with the Claimant and pursued a course of conduct amounting to harassment. …

24.01.12

Juror found in contempt for sharing findings of internet research

In Attorney-General -v- Theodora Dallas (2012) the Divisional Court heard that a jury member (Dallas) had conducted independent internet research in relation to a criminal trial she was sitting on. she had then discussed her findings with her fellow jury members. At the start of the case the jury had been shown a video about their responsibilities and told not to conduct…