About
A free weekly collection of criminal law links - for practitioners, law students, and anyone with an interest in the criminal justice system of England and Wales.
Curated by Sam Willis, a barrister at 5 King's Bench Walk.
News
'Government facing legal action after UN rules prisoners trapped on indefinite jail terms are being unlawfully detained'
The government is facing legal action after the United Nations concluded prisoners trapped on indefinite jail terms are being unlawfully detained, The Independent can reveal. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for Britain to urgently act in a scathing legal opinion, issued last month, which found five men handed Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms had been wronged by the state. The human rights watchdog said that their long incarceration beyond their original tariff amounts to arbitrary detention under international human rights law and they are entitled to compensation and other reparations. It followed a complaint made by campaigners on behalf of the men who served a combined total of 84 years incarcerated under the controversial jail terms, which were outlawed in 2012...
Lawyers are now preparing to submit a rare habeas corpus legal challenge to the High Court, which will force the government to justify the prisoners' continued incarceration to senior judges. In a letter before action sent to justice secretary Alex Norris today, human rights lawyer Karen Todner said the British justice system had been “shamed” by the UN’s findings. She told The Independent it has rendered the IPP jail term “indefensible”, adding: “It’s hugely significant and very damning for the UK government to receive such a condemnation of our justice system”...
The prime minister has asked Mr Norris to “work through further options” to free up cells so he can keep some of the most serious offenders in prison after a backlash against the early release of two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper. Options being considered include reviewing indeterminate sentences, speeding up the deportation of foreign criminals and looking at jail terms for women...
'Early release scheme risks more serious crimes, probation chief inspector warns'
The chief inspector of probation for England and Wales has told the BBC the early release of thousands of prisoners could lead to "a serious sexual or violent offence or even murder" because of the demands on probation staff to monitor offenders. The government is set to release 5,000 offenders from October as part of new laws to create more space in overcrowded prisons. Probation officers supervise offenders after prison sentences and check they follow the terms of their release, such as sticking to curfews and not taking drugs. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said "protecting the public is our top priority", adding it had invested in probation and hiring trainee officers. But Martin Jones, His Majesty's Chief Inspector of probation for England and Wales, told the BBC that "ultimately I'm not fully confident that the probation system will be able to cope with this massive work and there's a risk that things will go wrong". Probation services are already under unprecedented pressure. I mean, they're managing a caseload of 258,000 cases, that's nearly three times the number that are in our prisons, and obviously the early release scheme will be increasing that pressure considerably"...
Probation officers help former prisoners with housing, employment and access to benefits once in the community, and help protect the public by assessing the risk of further offending. Their workload will increase substantially when more offenders - some of whom will have been convicted of violent offences - are released months earlier than planned as part of the Sentencing Act. According to the chief inspector, probation caseload has increased by 8% over the last two years. Much of that is down to a separate early release scheme which was implemented in 2024 after prisons nearly reached full capacity. That scheme has led to tens of thousands of offenders being let out sooner...
'Fifty police chiefs call for PM to prevent early release of PC Harper's killers'
Fifty police chiefs have signed a letter urging the prime minister to pursue "every legal option" to prevent the early release of PC Andrew Harper's killers. PC Harper, 28, died in 2019 when he was dragged behind the getaway car of three teenagers who had fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire. The intervention comes shortly after Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was "confident" the early release of Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers in January could be prevented. The letter welcomed the prime minister's intervention, adding: "This provides an opportunity not only to examine every lawful avenue in PC Andrew Harper's case, but to ensure similar concerns do not arise again." In response to the open letter, Downing Street pointed to earlier comments made by Burnham where he said he would do "everything in his power" to prevent the early release of Cole and Bowers.
The police chiefs from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland also called for greater consideration of victims when prisoners have their sentences altered - such as with the government's early release scheme, which was designed to reduce prison overcrowding. Under changes to the Sentencing Act made this year, Cole and Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter in 2020, will become eligible for release from custody after serving half of their sentences. In the letter, released on Tuesday evening, police chiefs said the early release of PC Harper's killers, and that of anyone involved in the death of an officer, could cast doubt over the "value placed on their service and sacrifice when they put themselves in harm's way to protect others". They outlined three requests of the prime minister, beginning with pursuing "every lawful option to determine whether the earlier release of those responsible for PC Andrew Harper's death can be prevented" - which Burnham has already pledged to do. Second, they called on the government to put greater consideration into the crimes committed by prisoners when altering their sentences... Lastly, the letter called for victims and bereaved families to be "properly considered whenever significant changes are made to sentencing or release arrangements"...
'Double murderer and rapist Simon Levy sentenced to whole-life tariff'
Simon Levy, the prolific sexual predator left free by police and prosecution errors to murder two women, will never leave prison after being sentenced to a rare whole-life tariff. Judge Lucraft KC said Levy, 40, “ruthlessly” exploited women for his sexual pleasure, and had a proven history of sexual offending dating back to 2018. Levy will be one of a group of just 76 people currently confined to jail for the rest of their lives...
Police have admitted that it is likely his second murder victim could have been saved were it not for errors by officers and the prosecution service. The sentencing was watched by the families of his murder victims, Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo, 53, killed in south-east London in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins, murdered five months later in Tottenham, north London. Wilkins was murdered just a day short of her 40th birthday and had 83 marks on her body. Levy was also convicted of attacking and raping another woman, aged 35, in Tottenham in January 2025, known as “ED” to protect her anonymity. She survived and gave damning testimony of how she was beaten, suffocated and raped. Levy, from Tottenham in north London, was on bail as a suspect for the first murder when he committed the second, after police said they lacked sufficient evidence to charge him. Before the killings he already had an extensive history of sexual offending and was on the sex offender register, having been jailed in 2021 for two sexual assaults...
'Met Police apologises for exposing email addresses of 143 alleged Al Fayed victims'
The Metropolitan Police has inadvertently disclosed the email addresses of people who alleged they were sexually abused by Mohamed Al Fayed. An investigation has been ongoing into the late owner of Harrods after more than 400 claims of sexual misconduct were made against him, including rape and human trafficking, dating between 1977 and 2014. The force told The Independent that the email addresses of 143 alleged victims were revealed and that recipients’ contact information was visible to others on a distribution list. According to The Times, the incident took place on Tuesday as officers issued a monthly update to victims regarding the progress of the investigation into Al Fayed...
The breach affected all victims who opted in to receive updates from the investigation team, but recipients were split into smaller groups which meant the addresses were only visible to those in the same group, it is understood. The force issued an apology for the incident and confirmed those affected were contacted on the day it took place. The Information Commissioner’s Office was notified and the impact of the breach will be monitored...
Cases
R v Hossen [2026] EWCA Crim 1065
... The principal issue at trial therefore was whether the appellant's intention in disseminating terrorist publications was to encourage or assist acts of terrorism (directly or indirectly) or to promote discussion about Islam...
... It is clear from subsections 1 and 2, that a person may be guilty of an offence under section 2 of the Terrorism Act if they carry out any of the conduct specified in subsection 2, either with the intention specified in subsection 1(a) or (b) – that is intending that an effect of the conduct should be to encourage, induce or assist the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism – or under subsection 1(c), being reckless as to whether his conduct has such an effect. Subsections (9) and (10), read together, provide a defence where it is shown that the relevant publication neither expressed the view nor had the endorsement of the person whose conduct is in issue, and it is clear in all the circumstances of the conduct that the publication did not express the person's view nor had his endorsement. The effect of subsection (10)(b) is that the defence only applies where the allegation is one of recklessness, not intent...
It was the prosecution's primary case, relying on the 'mindset' material and exchange of messages, that the appellant intended to encourage the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism; however, the prosecution did not restrict their case in this way. Mr Anders told us that the appellant's defence at trial was that he neither intended, nor was he reckless as to the effect of his conduct. The trial judge directed the jury on recklessness. It is difficult to understand why, if recklessness was to be left to the jury as a possible route to conviction, Mr Anders did not raise the applicability of the section 2(9) defence at an earlier stage, and certainly before summing up. Mr Anders told us that he did not do so because to have canvassed the defence would have been 'confusing', and that the judge would have had to construct legal directions and a route to verdict that would have explained that the defence was only available for consideration if the prosecution failed to prove that the defendant intended to encourage. Mr Anders' concern, as expressed to us, was that had the defence been left to them at the outset, it might have been assumed that the defendant was conceding that he had been reckless. We find this a little difficult to follow. We consider that, had anyone considered that the section 2(9) defence was, or may have been applicable, it would not have been unduly complicated to construct a route to verdict directing the jury to consider intention first and then, if they were not satisfied that intention had been proved, to consider recklessness and the statutory defence to it. Irrespective of the explanation for it the fact is that in this case, as Mr Anders conceded, the possibility of reliance on the statutory defence was never raised at any stage prior to the retirement of the jury. It was not foreshadowed in the defence statement, and was not raised with the judge prior to summing up. It formed no part of the submissions to the jury by either counsel. Indeed, as we have observed, the legal directions (which make no mention of the statutory defence) and the route to verdict were all agreed. Whether or not the appellant's evidence (if accepted) that the publications did not express his views or have his endorsement, might have satisfied limb (a), Mr Anders has been unable to direct us to the evidence that would have satisfied the objective test in limb (b). Put simply, no or no sufficient evidence had been adduced that would have justified leaving the defence to the jury. Accordingly, we agree, albeit for different reasons to those given by the judge, that he was right to refuse to direct the jury about the statutory defence at the point when the question arose. In any event, we conclude that there was no evidence on which the jury could reasonably have concluded that the defence was made out. The appellant's convictions are not arguably unsafe, and the appeal against conviction is accordingly refused...
International
'How alleged cartel leader Daniel Kinahan returned to Ireland'
Armed police took up positions at the entrances to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, as the plane carrying Daniel Kinahan approached the city. On the steps of the building, journalists from Irish and international media tracked the flight online. The Irish government had sent its jet to Dubai. It is usually used to transport ministers, but it left the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a suspected crime boss on board. The doors of the court opened around half an hour after the aircraft landed at a military airfield nine miles (14km) away. As reporters went through security, we heard the sound of sirens outside - indicating the arrival of the accused.The courtroom filled up over the next 45 minutes - as detectives, prosecutors, and some members of the public took up seats along with the media. From the moment Kinahan entered the dock, until he was led out 13 minutes later, almost everyone was looking towards him - and the proceedings were accompanied by constant typing from the press benches. Complex international investigations, and diplomacy, had led to this moment...