Our Most Recent Case Reviews

R (Officer W80) v Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct [2023] 1 WLR 2300

The case arose from a fatal shooting by a police firearms specialist in the honest but mistaken belief that the suspect was armed. Was the test for self-defence in police disciplinary proceedings to be that applied in the civil law or the criminal law?

ADDED Friday 8th March 2024

R v Wu (Susan) [2023] 2 Cr App R 3

Did the offence of 'unlawful eviction' under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 require the tenant to have been put out or kept out of physical occupation? Did 'unlawful harassment' require a course of conduct and acts rather than mere omissions?

ADDED Monday 11th March 2024

R (Marandi) v Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2023] 2 Cr App R 15

The case concerned an application for anonymity in forfeiture proceedings by a person who was neither party to nor a witness in those proceedings. The court also set out the requirements regarding notice, evidence in support, content of the order etc

ADDED Thursday 7th March 2024

Hicks (Deborah) v Director of Public Prosecutions [2023] 2 Cr App R 12

The case arose from a confrontation between a COVID sceptic and healthcare professionals. It concerned the boundary between freedom of expression and the offence of causing harassment, alarm or distress through threatening or abusive words or behaviour.

ADDED Wednesday 5th March 2024

Birmingham City Council v Jones [2023] 3 WLR 343

The case concerned the standard of proof to be applied on applications for so-called 'gang injunctions', which aim to break down the gang culture, prevent gang-related violence from escalating and protect children from being drawn into serious crime.

ADDED Tuesday 5th March 2024

R v Hernandez (Jordan) [2024] 1 Cr App R 4

The case concerned the civic duty to perform jury service, the ‘fair-minded observer’ test in Porter v McGill [2002] AC 357 and the capacity of prospective jurors to shed their preconceived notions and to take and abide by their oaths and affirmations.

ADDED Monday 4th March 2024

Newcastle United Football Company Ltd v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs [2024] STC 73

The case concerned HMRC's powers to retain hard copies of documents and digital images made in the course of a criminal investigation once that investigation is over and then to share such material with their colleagues conducting civil tax inquiries.

ADDED Thursday 22nd February 2024

R (Chapter 4 Corp t/a Supreme) v Southwark Crown Court [2023] Costs LR 897

The case concerned the payment of a private prosecutor’s costs from central funds, the jurisdiction of the Crown Court to amend such an order other than under the slip rule, and the costs of JR proceedings where the claimant was guilty of culpable failings.

ADDED Wednesday 21st February 2024

R v Trowland (Morgan) [2024] 1 Cr App R (S) 14

The case concerned appeals against sentence by two 'Just Stop Oil' protestors, who had caused large-scale disruption when they climbed the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at the Dartford/Thurrock Thames crossing and refused to budge for the next 36 hours.

ADDED Friday 16th February 2024

R v Malkinson (Andrew) [2023] EWCA Crim 954

This involved a high-profile miscarriage of justice, arising from unreliable identification evidence. Andrew Malkinson spent 17 years in prison protesting his innocence and was finally cleared as a result of developments in the science of DNA analysis.

ADDED Wednesday 14th February 2024

R v Ali (Arie) [2023] 2 Cr App R (S) 25

The case concerned the approach to be taken to the imposition of custodial sentences during times of prison overcrowding. That factor could be taken into account by a sentencing judge when deciding whether a sentence of imprisonment should be suspended.

ADDED Tuesday 13th February 2024

Top Ten Most Talked About Videos from the CrimeCast Archive

R (Officer W80) v Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct [2023] 1 WLR 2300

The case arose from a fatal shooting by a police firearms specialist in the honest but mistaken belief that the suspect was armed. Was the test for self-defence in police disciplinary proceedings to be that applied in the civil law or the criminal law?

ADDED Friday 8th March 2024

'The Grenfell Tower bonfire night effigy'

“A video mocking the victims of the Grenfell tragedy had been sent via Whatsapp and posted on YouTube. The man who allegedly filmed the video was charged with sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network.”
Re-released: Monday 21st March 2022

The calculation of the default terms of imprisonment where members of a criminal gang are each made the subject of confiscation orders based at least in part on the value of criminal property which they acquired together from a criminal conspiracy.

Re-released: Sunday 20th March 2022

'The Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist atrocity'

The lawfulness of steps taken by the Justice Secretary and the Probation Service, following the Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist attack, to tighten the licence conditions of terrorist offenders released on licence.
Re-released: Saturday 19th March 2022

When will the Court of Appeal give leave to an appellant to make submissions on an additional ground of appeal against conviction, even though the court has already decided that the appeal must be allowed and the conviction quashed on other grounds?

Re-released: Friday 18th March 2022

'Boris Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament'

The case concerned whether Boris Johnson's advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for an extended period (advice which she was constitutionally bound to follow) trespassed beyond the limits of the prerogative power and whether it was justiciable.

Re-released: Thursday 17th March 2022

The case concerned whether the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act 1879 can be deployed in aid of overseas proceedings and whether it extends to business documentation held by a bank other than transactional records (including regulatory compliance documents).

Re-released: Wednesday 16th March 2022

“The attempts by Shamima Begum, the so-called ‘ISIS child bride’, to overturn decisions by the former Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, stripping her of her British passport and refusing entry clearance and leave to re-enter the UK.”

Re-released: Tuesday 15th March 2022

One of the most notorious murder cases of recent times prompted the court to consider the scope of the prosecution’s disclosure obligations post-conviction and also the role of the Criminal Cases Review Commission in correcting miscarriages of justice.

Re-released: Monday 14th March 2022

The relationship between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service as an independent public prosecution body, and the duty of public bodies to act independently, transparently and not incompatibly with ECHR rights.
Re-released: Sunday 13th March 2022

The Supreme Court considered whether there is any principle of the common law which prevents HM Government providing to the authorities of another jurisdiction information which might lead to the imposition of the death penalty in that jurisdiction.

Re-released: Saturday 12th March 2022