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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
'Prime Minister blocks hundreds more criminals from sentencing changes'
Unlawful killing and historic child sex offences will be blocked from upcoming changes to prison sentences after the Prime Minister ordered more serious offenders to be kept behind bars for longer. The Prime Minister’s intervention will mean offenders in prison for killing an emergency worker in the line of duty will not be released any earlier. Historic grooming offences, all forms of manslaughter, death by dangerous driving and causing or allowing the death of a child will also be barred from the changes to the prison sentences...
The Prime Minister has also announced that he will end the injustice of Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences this Parliament, meaning people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago. This decision recognises how deeply unjust it is that some offenders who have been locked up for nearly twenty years remain in prison, despite serving their sentence many times over, whereas many serious criminals convicted in recent years could have their jail time cut. While work on this will begin immediately, and on a cross-party basis, it will take time to get this right and balance fairness with public safety...
Powers will also be implemented early next year to deport some foreign criminals immediately after sentencing, blocking them from ever returning to the country, while keeping those in prison for the most serious crimes locked up for a substantial period before they are removed...
The Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor have also insisted that victims must remain at the centre of the justice system, with survivors of domestic abuse seeing offenders put under some of the toughest restrictions to date. This includes a presumption that all prison leavers will be tagged and imposing possible bans on pubs and public events. Perpetrators could also be confined to a specific area – some just a few miles wide – giving victims greater freedom to live their lives. In a world first, new ‘restriction zones’, which have been directly shaped by the experiences and campaigning of victims, will limit the movement of some sexual and violent offenders, with victims having a say in how zones are drawn up...
'PC Harper's killers to stay in jail as PM announces early release scheme changes'
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told the BBC that PC Andrew Harper's killers will remain behind bars as he announced changes to the early release scheme aimed at easing prison overcrowding. In an exclusive interview with BBC Breakfast, Burnham said anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter, would be excluded from the scheme, which would have made two of the officer's killers eligible for early release. Burnham said extra prison space would be created by deporting foreign prisoners and releasing some inmates serving indefinite sentences. It follows months of campaigning from PC Harper's family and former colleagues to block the release of his killers. The 28-year-old was responding to a burglary in Berkshire in 2019 when he was dragged along a road by a vehicle as three teenagers fled the scene of a quad bike theft. When it emerged that two of the killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, could be released early, there were passionate calls for the government to intervene and block those convicted of manslaughter from early release... He conceded the announcement would mean "hundreds" more people stay in prison, meaning additional space will need to be found in a system that is more than 97% full in England and Wales...
'Burnham’s pledge to scrap indefinite jail terms brings campaigners ‘justice and hope’ after years of anguish'
The prime minister’s pledge to end the scandal of indefinite jail terms “will finally bring justice and hope” to thousands of prisoners languishing without a release date, campaigners say. Andy Burnham announced on Sunday he will “end the injustice” of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) jail terms by the end of this parliament as he unveiled plans to limit the number of other prisoners being released early, including Pc Andrew Harper’s killers...
Campaigners have hailed the move as an “essential first step towards healing” after years of anguish. “This will finally bring justice and hope to IPPs and their families,” said Bernadette Emerson, co-founder of the IPP Solidarity Movement, whose husband Abdullahi Suleman has served almost 20 years for a laptop robbery. His case, previously reported by The Independent, formed part a major complaint to the United Nations, which issued a damning legal opinion issued last month concluding he and several other IPP prisoners are being arbitrarily detained. The government is now facing a major legal challenge over their imprisonment.Campaigner Shirley Debono, whose son Shaun Lloyd has been recalled five times and served nearly 14 years for snatching a phone, said she was “absolutely overwhelmed". "After all these years of campaigning, fighting, being ignored and watching IPP prisoners and their families suffer, to finally hear the prime minister say he will end the injustice of IPP sentences this parliament feels incredible,” said the mother, who co-founded IPP Committee in Action. “The words ‘people will no longer be trapped indefinitely under a sentence abolished more than a decade ago’ are something I never thought I would hear from a prime minister. I’m so excited, but also emotional, because I know what this has meant for so many families. I’m thinking of every IPP prisoner who has spent years trapped under this sentence and every family who has fought alongside them”...
'Met Police chief 'flabbergasted' by release of knife and gun crime suspects on bail'
Suspects charged with serious knife and firearm offences are being released on bail amid Britain's prison overcrowding crisis, the country's most senior police officer has warned. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was "flabbergasted" by a fall in the number of defendants accused of knife and gun crimes being remanded in custody – which he claimed was leading to the accused being repeatedly charged and bailed over the same offences. Despite saying stricter knife crime and firearms legislation had helped reduce serious crime over the last 25 years, Sir Mark said the country was now "seeing the consequences" of what he called an "overloaded justice system". He said: "We are seeing rapidly reducing imprisonment for people sentenced for knife crime offences, knife crime possession, even repeat knife carriers, so that's going down. That is then anticipated at the start of the process, so far fewer are being remanded in custody. So routinely now we're seeing people charged again and again and again with carrying knives, and they're being bailed again and again and again, and that really concerns me"...
Sir Mark said the force is also seeing a similar pattern with firearm offences. He said there are currently around 34 cases of individuals charged with firearms offences in London who are all on bail pending trial, adding that in nine of those cases, the suspects had fired shots in confrontation. Sir Mark insisted that a few years ago this "just wouldn't have happened"...
'Channel smuggling gangs resort to 'mega-dinghies' as crackdown limits small boat supply'
A drop in small boats illegally reaching the UK is forcing people smuggling gangs to adopt new tactics, a BBC investigation has found. And there are claims of more "mega-dinghies" being prepared, of the type seen arriving on UK shores in recent weeks. The image of a 15-metre long small boat carrying a record 230 migrants towards the UK drew condemnation from both newspapers and politicians. Ministers were accused of "losing control" of illegal Channel crossings, and the French police again found themselves criticised for not intervening. But evocative as the picture was, it also represented a new strategy by the increasingly frustrated people smugglers we encountered on France's northern shores - who attacked our crew with stones, and injured our cameraman. They are running low on small boats, we have found. And once rival criminal groups are now having to work together by loading more migrants on fewer, larger vessels - just like the "mega-dinghy"...
Gang members have told our sources that others are being prepared, to the concern of emergency teams on both sides of the Channel, because of the increased risk to more lives. On 4 August 170 people had to be rescued after theirs caught fire in the middle of the Channel. With French officers claiming they are now intercepting two-thirds of small boats before they can reach the coast, that means fewer crossing opportunities. And for those hoping to make the journey, it means a higher price. Today, the gangs are quoting up to €2,000 (£1,700) per person. It used to be around €1,300 just a year ago. Their passengers also have to now pay in cash, to ensure commitment...
Cases
R v Anthony Kalinga [2026] EWCA Crim 1135
... the Appellant made an application under R v Galbraith (1981) 73 Cr App R 124 that there was no case to answer on Count 2, on the basis that the Crown could not prove its case on that charge even taking its case at its highest because “the intent to use the weapon had to be formed before the occasion of its actual use” (Defence Skeleton Argument, paragraph 8), and the crutch, once the Appellant had it in his possession, was used instantly. The Crown submitted that “given the whole background, it is perfectly feasible for the jury, in the circumstances, to conclude that [the Appellant] decided he was going to inflict injury upon Mr [Cessay]. He has armed himself with the crutch and set about doing just that” (10 March 2026 Transcript, page 3C-E). In her Ruling the following day, the Judge appears to have accepted that submission. In due course, the jury found the Appellant guilty on both counts...
... despite the early ambiguity, the law is now both long-established and clear. It draws a clear distinction between possessing or “having” an offensive weapon and using it. Where there is use, i.e. an actual or attempted assault on an individual, whether the person perpetrating that assault is guilty of an offence under section 1(1) will depend on whether the taking up of the article and intention to use it offensively can properly be considered as distinct from the assault itself. If it cannot, then the person using the weapon is not also guilty of a section 1(1) offence; and it is inappropriate to charge that as a separate offence...
... As this court observed in Tucker (at [19]), there will be cases where there is room for argument as to which side of the line the particular case falls. But this is not one of them. The CCTV footage is striking. The crutch was taken to the scene by the complainant. The Appellant used it as a weapon upon being handed it by a passer-by instantly – within one or, at most, two seconds. On the available evidence, the Appellant having the crutch and forming the intention to use it as a weapon could not properly be considered as distinct from the assault itself. The Judge erred in law in not withdrawing the count from the jury when asked to do so...
... we consider that, on the available evidence, the Crown should not have added that count to the indictment. It could only have acted as an unnecessary distraction and, as the cases indicate, it was unnecessary. The fact that the offence was visited only by a short sentence concurrent with the sentence imposed for the assault – which, of course, took into account the Appellant’s use of the crutch as a weapon – reflects that. As a consequence, allowing the appeal against the Count 2 conviction will make no substantive difference to the Appellant, in the sense that the sentence imposed will be unaffected...
R v JEH [2025] EWCA Crim 1757
... When the jury came to retire to consider their verdicts they were provided with a data stick, also known as a "capture card", on which all of the material that they had viewed during the trial from the CCTV footage played was provided to them. After the jury had returned their unanimous guilty verdicts on counts 1 and 2, it was discovered that the capture card provided to the jury had erroneously also contained a copy of the complainant's video recorded interview. It is not altogether clear how this came about but it appears likely that there was an error on the part of the person operating the digital media system and that the recording device which creates the capture card was not stopped after the CCTV had been played and before the commencement of the playing of the complainant's video recorded interview...
... However it came about, it is accepted on all sides that the jury ought not to have been provided with the complainant's video recorded interview for the purposes of their retirement. In the case of R v Popescu [2010] EWCA Crim 1230 this court considered the propriety of permitting a jury to have transcript of a video recording which were standing as a witness's evidence-in-chief. At paragraph 25 of the judgment, Aikens LJ records the concern that permitting a jury to have transcripts of a witness's evidence-in-chief, in particular in retirement, would give rise to the concern that the prosecution might obtain a procedural and evidential advantage leading to the trial being unfairly weighted against the defendant...
... in these circumstances the integrity of the trial process cannot be satisfactorily preserved in respect of such a central issue by the process contemplated by the respondent. As the trial judge observed, this is a fundamental irregularity which inevitably calls into question the safety and validity of the verdicts which the jury returned...
... However, before leaving this appeal, it is appropriate to remark on how the situation came about in the first place. It appears that trial counsel issued instructions in relation to which elements of the video material was to be played to the jury and which had to be captured and that the judge and counsel made it clear, as has already been observed, that the jury would not have the ability to review the complainant's video-recorded interview whilst in retirement. These observations are insufficient to obviate procedural irregularity in this case. In our view whilst the court obviously bears the initial responsibility for capturing the video media that has been played to the jury during the course of the trial, and which they are entitled to have in retirement, that does not absolve the parties in the case from the responsibility of ensuring prior to the jury's retirement that the material which they are going to be provided with to play in retirement is accurate. This, we consider, requires that counsel should be given the opportunity to check the material which is going to be provided to the jury in retirement to ensure that there is nothing extraneous or untoward that has found its way into the compilation of material for the jury to use...
Education
'Ministry of Justice to help fund next generation of criminal legal aid barristers with £1.5m commitment'
The government has finally put numbers to a promise it made last Christmas to ensure the country has enough criminal barristers to help clear the Crown court backlog - £1.5m annually for up to 100 extra pupillages every year. The Law Society has urged the government to provide similar funding to train up criminal legal aid solicitors. The Ministry of Justice announced on Saturday a ‘landmark scheme’ that would widen access to ‘one of the country’s most prestigious professions’ and develop a strong pipeline of talent to support the criminal justice system 'at a critical time’. To receive the cash, chambers would have to 'incorporate equal opportunity measures into their recruitment practices through targeted outreach and steps to increase representation in the profession...
Welcoming the news, Criminal Bar Association chair Riel Karmy-Jones and vice-chair Andrew Thomas said pupil barristers receive training by unpaid volunteers who give up their time to provide education, supervision and mentoring. ‘This additional funding from the government will support that work and also the bar’s initiatives to ensure that we recruit from the widest possible pool of candidates. We welcome this and look forward to working alongside the lord chancellor, the Courts minister and chambers across England and Wales on this promised investment plan,' they added.
Other
'Prisoners freed early are returning to jail at rapid rate, governors tell BBC'
Prisoners who were freed under the government's last early release scheme are returning to jail at a rapid rate, prison governors have told the BBC. They say they are seeing the same inmates, who were let out as part of the 2024 early release scheme to ease overcrowding, coming back after reoffending - including for breaching their conditions. "The churn is what stresses me out," said one governor in the Midlands, describing it as a "revolving door"...
It comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced changes to the next early release scheme, starting in October, following outrage that the killers of PC Andrew Harper were among those eligible to be released. On Sunday, Burnham announced that they will not be, telling the BBC that anyone convicted of unlawful killing will be excluded from the scheme. He conceded that it means "hundreds" more people will stay in prison - as prisons in England and Wales reach breaking point at more than 97% full. The government says there are plans to create more prison space by deporting foreign inmates and releasing some who are serving indefinite sentences, but they are unlikely to create much more space by the time the first batch of inmates are released in October...