Students and Demonstrators - Anti Tuition Fees Protests.

Andrew Parker, our Head of Criminal Law, had a busy night on Thursday 9th. December 2010. Students and young people were alleged to have been involved in the anti Coalition protests against tuition fees in Central London. This provided many challenges for Andrew as he endeavoured to provide representation and specific specialist advice. Thousands of students had set off from the University of London  and many ended up being "kettled" outside parliament. As an aside, in recent years we have had students and interns from this prestigious university on placement with this firm.
Remember, M23LAW operate a 24 hour emergency service (07973803727) for suspects in criminal Investigations. This topically includes anyone alleged to have been involved in protests, marches or demonstrations. Our representatives have a wealth of experience and particularly in dealing with the Metropolitan Police.
We are experts in advising young (and not so young) suspects in any criminal investigation. Common offences are: Violent Disorder, Affray, Threatening Behaviour, Offensive Weapon/Bladed Article and Criminal Damage. Also, in the context of the scenes in recent weeks across England, potential prosecutions for Riot. No doubt the police and the CPS will be looking at Conspiracy charges, provided that they can obtain the necessary evidence.
CCTV evidence will be crucial and we at M23LAW are specialist solicitors in this area. Please note we were one of the leading law firms in defending in the Bradford Riots; we acted in a long  jury trial for the so-called ringleader in Bradford Crown Court. We have particular knowledge of Facial Mapping techniques and in representing on Identification Procedures under the Police & Criminal Evidence Act, known as "ID Parades."
This experience has been used to good effect in acting for suspects in police stations throughout England & Wales over many years.
Increasingly, many clients select our specialist Private Cases Department for their own requirements.

Bikers and Speed Limits.

The latest Department for Transport statistics reckon that over fifty per cent of motorcycles were driven above the speed limit on roads in Great Britain.
However, in 2009 the lowest number of new bikes were purchased since records began in 2001: 114,900.
Please note that M23LAW are specialist lawyers in the field of speeding offences, speeding fines and all other motoring (Road Traffic) offences. We act mainly in the South East, but in 2010 we have represented clients with cases all over England. Our busiest areas are the M23 Motorway (and the A23 also!) corridor and the whole of the M25 Motorway catchment. We routinely represent drivers and bikers in magistrates courts in London.
M23LAW, the Biker's Brief.

Trial without a jury.

There will be an appeal before the Lord Chief Justice and two other Court of Appeal judges, sitting at the Old Bailey for security reasons. The issue is as to the convictions being 'unsafe' following the first serious trial without a jury in England & Wales. It had taken place after the Court of Appeal ruled there had been a significant risk of jury tampering. It is to be noted that the trial was the fourth attempt to try the  defendants Twomey, Blake, Hibberd and Cameron. Also, the trial apparently cost over 25 million pounds. Sentences ranged from life to 15 years. Jury trials have changed considerably during the author's decades of experience. One example is the abolition of peremptory challenges in jury selection, which are still in use in the USA and can be seen in many a movie.

Ageing drivers?

Just a note to perhaps provoke debate:
The latest research indicates that drivers aged over 50 account for 32 per cent of all drivers. However, by 2035 this should rise to 40 per cent.
Will there be a concomitant 8% reduction in Road Traffic Accidents? Drivers and drivers huh?

Far-reaching anti-curruption laws to come into effect in April 2011.

The Bribery Act is due to come into effect in April and is expected to cause alarm and distress among compliance and executive officers of companies.
The Bribery Act will introduce corporate offences such as failing to prevent bribery. In this type of case, individual company executives might face personal criminal sanctions if they are proved to have consented or connived in the offering or receiving of a bribe.
Companies and individuals may have to prove that adequate procedures were put in place to prevent bribery.
M23LAW are alerting their corporate clients in particular to this far-reaching legislation. We believe it is more pernicious in some respects than current USA legislation, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
We are therefore gearing-up to advise and represent companies and executives who might wish to receive our specialist services. Please speak to Andrew for further guidance.

Successful defence of suspect under investigation by the Ministry of Defence.

Our client was under investigation over recent months by Ministry of Defence officers. We cannot of course go into the nature of the Royal Navy inquiry but suffice to say it was quite complicated and involved a series of allegations. Our client was very relieved when we informed him of the successful outcome. He remains of good character and able to continue his nautical and educational career.
We were supported in this case by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

Undercover police bikers use hidden cameras

Undercover police bikers are using hidden cameras in Sussex in order to gain evidence of Dangerous Driving and speeding offences.
Three defendants have pleaded guilty and received sentences for their dangerous driving:
Sean Robertson appeared at Hove Crown Court on the 7th. October. He was captured doing 90mph in a 50mph zone along the A22 on a Sunday. He almost caused an accident. He received an 18 months ban and required to do an extensive re-test, Also, 80 hours Community Service.
Richard Gilbert was at Brighton Magistrates Court for doing wheelies on his Suzuki bike on the A23. He was given a 12 month Community Order in order to do 250 hours unpaid work.
Claire Bunton  appeared at Chichester Crown Court on the 1st. October. She had been seen weaving in and out of traffic in her Toyota Celica on the A24/A280. Speeds of 106mph were recorded in a 70mph zone. She was banned for 18 months and fined £2k.
So be extra careful out there guys!

Facebook Sexual Slurs

An unemployed man, Colm Cross, pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court to leaving sexual slurs on Facebook members' walls. He even left obscene messages on the Facebook page of the late Jade Goody from Big Brother fame.
He was prosecuted under the rarely used Communications Act 2003. He is currently awaiting sentence.

Which way family justice?

It could be worse. In Mozambique recently, two men over seventy were beaten to death by their own families.
Their crime? They were said to have been witches. Five of the family members were arrested and apparently admitted the killings.Fortunately or not, the lawyers at M23LAW (Hedley-Saunders & Co) can only represent suspects in England & Wales and were not practising back in the days when trials of  alleged witches were common.

Failure to reveal a computer password to the police.

Teenager Oliver Drage has been sentenced at Preston Crown Court ( where this firm has had cases in recent years) to four months imprisonment for refusing to reveal his 50 character encryption code to investigators. Oliver's computer was seized by the police after a PACE search of his address. He was not convicted of any other offence. The police have still not cracked the code and we at M23LAW reckon that there will be more prosecutions under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. We have had cases in our local county forces when our clients have also declined access and have avoided prosecution after many months of being on police bail. Apart from cases involving children and downloading, we feel that the State will use these wide ranging powers in the areas of illegal file sharing and insider dealing. The sentence could have been up to five years if 'National Security' was at stake.

Speeding in Sussex and the South East.

Sussex police have been criticised this year for allowing foreign vehicles to exceed the speed limit without any penalty. Around 1 in 7 speeding foreign vehicles receive a fine, but the police have been unable to confirm if any of the fines were paid. The police have blamed these failings and massive loss of revenue (over £80,000) on lack of cooperation between countries and the fact that foreign plates do not show up on the DVLA database, making locating the owner of the vehicle much more difficult and time consuming. There is a similar issue with parking tickets being issued to foreign vehicles. However the story is very different for UK drivers who can expect a fine in the post for definite. Speeding foreign vehicles pose a dangerous threat to other road users and the problem will continue as long as this lack of effort and cooperation continues.

Earlier this year Sussex police were made to apologise and refund fines to around 200 people when they were found to be using unauthorised camera equipment. While obviously this is not permitted, the fact is that the device found these 200 people to be speeding, but they have avoided punishment because of bureaucracy. Again the focus doesn’t seem to be on the issue of road safety.

East Sussex County Council, like many councils across the south east have plans and schemes in place to tackle the issue of speeding and road safety. East Sussex promote community speed watch schemes and they fund laser speed guns. They provide mobile and static speed indication devices which warn drivers when they are exceeding the speed limit. They have reduced the speed limit in many villages from 40 to 30 and they are also promoting road safety in schools. Regularly school children can be seen on the high street with laser speed guns and local police officers learning about road safety and checking the speed of the local residents. Speeding is still a problem in many areas, and will schools programmes help the issue in the future?

Speed Cameras: People become accustomed to where cameras are situated and so drive slowly only where they know they may be caught. This has led to many cameras being put out of action (for example on the M20 in Kent) in favour of mobile devices. However many drivers rarely see these mobile devices – so are they really making a difference?

Novel Tactics: February 2010 saw the beginning of a new tactic to tackle speeding in Kent. Brenchly Parish councillors will confront reckless drivers after they have been stopped by police. But will such humiliating tactics improve the problem of speeding in the area and will similar methods be used elsewhere?

US style murder charges in the UK today?

The proposed changes will introduce a three-tier system like that commonly seen by the British public on various American court dramas and sitcoms. There will be first-degree murder (mandatory life sentence), second degree murder (discretionary sentence) and manslaughter (with a maximum sentence of life).
The current law in the UK has been criticised for being unclear and lacking clarity in some cases and it is suggested that a three tier system will create a more easily understandable system as the seriousness of each case will be taken into account. However former Met Police Commissioner Lord Blair spoke on BBC Radio 4 and voiced his concern regarding explaining the differences between each tier to the public. The British public know the current system and many may not see any reason for change, holding opinions along the lines of ‘all murder is murder’ so why take into account the seriousness?
But how will these changes be brought in? The Law Commission recommended reform of homicide law six years ago and as yet no fundamental changes have been made to the system. It is unlikely that an overnight change of the law will happen and the government are planning a step by step change process. Will this lead to further confusion before we see the light at the end of the tunnel? And how long will it be before we can see the fruits of these proposals and learn whether change to the US system was the correct move for UK law? Only time will tell. These proposals have now been backed by two DPP’s; Barbara Mills QC and today by Keir Starmer QC.
Andrew Parker reckons that there will not be sufficient time or backing in parliament for this necessary and long overdue reform.

Travel in Europe?

Watch out if you have a tendency to speed in Europe. This follows agreement by EU countries to share vehicle and driving licence information. There will be a new computer system to trace errant motorists, who will then receive a fine and licence endorsement when they return home to the UK. All 27 EU countries are expected to have signed up by August 2011. It is called The European Car and Driving Licence Information System and has already received the support of the DVLA. Also, France is installing new traffic signal enforcement cameras throughout the country. Happy continental motoring!

Be Smart or be fined!

Be alert out there! Over 30 councils are using Smart cars with CCTV mast cameras and thus raising fines totalling over £8m. They are mainly parked near junctions and attempt to catch errant motorists using bus lanes or driving without due care and attention.
In the year which ended in March 2010, one hundred and eighty eight thousand motorists were caught this way. Revenue raising and the Big Brother culture?

Football violence

This firm has a long history of representing individuals and groups charged with football violence and similar matters. Our Mr Parker has attended police stations on these cases as far afield as Doncaster to Hereford. Indeed, he once represented ten fans from a lower division team who got arrested under the Public Order Act 1986 and after a lengthy Crown Court trial, 8 of the 10 defendants (who all stayed as our clients) were found not guilty.

We have experience of dealing with Banning Orders under Section 14(a) of the Football Spectators Act 1989 and we have had many calls to represent clients during the current World Cup. Most of these were under the Offences Against the Person Act 1961, Criminal Justice Act 1988 or Public Order Act 1986. Interestingly, most involved copious amounts of alcohol, which generally speaking is no defence in English law, as it leads to a self-induced state.

We have also used our facial mapping experts in group public order violence matters.

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Old Bailey Success

We recently acted for a client at the Old Bailey and we successfully argued that the police had breached the Codes of Practice by not correctly recording evidence and, in fairness, putting significant items to the suspect during his crucial recorded interview at the police station. Our client was found Not Guilty.

The magistrates/youth court can no longer grant bail to a defendant charged with murder. However, this does not apply to attempted murder and bail may still be granted in the crown court.

On a Driving Whilst Disqualified case in Croydon recently, our lawyer successfully contested the prosecution on the basis that the location of the alleged driving was not in law a ’road.’ M23LAW has had many cases in this area of law.

An update on imprisonment:

‘An update on imprisonment:

It costs around £45,000 a year to keep a youth in prison, £17,000 more than a place at Eton.

The Ministry of Justice admit that about 75% of children released from prison will reoffend within a year.

The prison population currently exceeds 85,000 people and the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has had the courage to face up to reality and suggest that we need to drastically reduce this overcrowding. Even if probably driven by economic necessity, I applaud this sea change in government thinking. Let’s see how it pans out in the next year.’

Motorbikes have 6,000 accidents a day in Britain

‘Motorbikes have 6,000 accidents a day in Britain and in the last month an incredible 10% of bikers have been involved in a crash.

One per cent of traffic is down to bikers but they account for fourteen per cent of road deaths and serious injuries. 472 were killed in 2009.

We at M23LAW recently attended a venue for bikers, in conjunction with the police Safer Roads campaign. Highways Agency Biker Safety Packs were handed out and free advice was given by our Motoring Law team.’

Legal Aid and Justice.

An interesting equation?
The whole Legal Aid budget is the equivalent of just two weeks of the annual Health budget.
Depending on the outlook of the next government, we might be down to just two days.
What price justice? We once had a superb publically funded legal representation system. This limited the potential for miscarriages of justice and was the envy of many in other jurisdictions.
What value will be placed on an individual's rights and access to a properly funded public defence after May?
Watch this space.

Youth Custody - The Cost

In March 2010 there were 2,195 children aged 10 to 17 held in Youth Custody in England & Wales.
The cost per child is up to £140,000 per annum. Six times more than to a top private school such as Eton.
Additionally, each detainee is more likely to reoffend and be unemployed later in life.

New Premises!

We are pleased to announce that we have moved to more prestigious premises at Golf House, Horsham Road, Pease Pottage (by jctn 11-M23), West Sussex, RH11 9SG. Our contact details remain the same.
We have taken over and renovated to a high standard excellent ground floor offices in the West Wing of Golf House.There is a free capacious car park to the front and the rural setting is most convivial. Our Motoring Law expert and golfer Geoff Wise is like a pig in the proverbial, as we are nearly surrounded by a golf driving range and courses.
Furthermore, we have been hard at it redesigning our website and the fruits of our combined labour can now be viewed: www.m23law.co.uk
Please let us know your comments: help@m23law.co.uk