Criminal Law article
Case Comment: R v Gnango [2011] UKSC 59
By Anita Davies
In the case preview for R v Gnango, it was suggested that the question facing the Supreme…
Tail docking – the Animal Welfare Act 2006
The practice of tail docking is contentious. It involves the amputation of a puppy’s tail and is performed without…
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Case Comment: Gale v Serious Organised Crime Agency [2011] UKSC 49
In Gale v Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK Supreme Court sent a simple message to Strasbourg: if we are duty bound to follow decisions of the ECtHR then, at least in this area, they need to be clearer. A new decision from the Grand Chamber on thi…
A step-change in sentencing for manslaughter?
In Barrass [2011] EWCA Crim 2629 the court sentenced the defendant for an offence of manslaughter. The appellant was the…
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Prosecutorial errors and the overriding objective
In Payne v South Lakeland Magistrates’ Court, unreported, 30 June 2011, the administrative court considered what effect a prosecution error…
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Post traumatic stress disorder – admissibility
In R v E, unreported 27 June 2011, the Court of Appeal upheld a conviction for sex offences where the…
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Case Comment: R (GC) v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis; R (C) v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2011] UKSC21
The Association of Chief Police Officers guidelines on the retention of DNA and fingerprints provide, among other things, for the indefinite retention of biometric data which is acquired on the arrest of individuals against whom no further action is ta…
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Case Comment: Fraser v Her Majesty’s Advocate [2011] UKSC24
Nat Fraser
The Supreme Court handed down judgment in the appeal of Nat Fraser on 25th May 2011. In relatively (for them) brief terms – 22 pages – the Justices unanimously upheld the appeal and remitted the case back to the High Court of Justiciary …
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Case Comment: R (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] UKSC18
When is a wrongful conviction not a miscarriage of justice? This was the riddle that recently occupied a nine-judge panel of the Supreme Court in R (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice [2011] UKSC 18. The question arose in an appeal brought by thre…
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Case Comment: WL (Congo) & KM (Jamaica) [2011] UKSC 12
The long awaited judgment of the nine member panel in the case previously referred to as WL (Congo) and KM (Jamaica) (see case preview) was handed down on 23 March 2011. In short the majority held that a breach of public law which bears on and is rel…
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