Locals trap locals.

Police  in Derby will issue speed guns to residents so they can measure the speed of passing cars in the local area. The Community Speed Watch project is a scheme to help people reduce speeding traffic through their communities. Speeding checks have often revealed that many drivers who exceed the speed limit are in fact local to the area where they are checked.

Well, well, well what 'av we 'ere then?

Boothtown (West Yorkshire) residents chased a 21 year old suspected burglar from the scene of a break-in.
Unfortunately for the young man from Halifax, he fell down a 30foot well and had to be rescued by local firefighters after calling for help!

New 80mph Speed Limit?

The Coalition has signalled it may allow drivers to drive at 80mph. The government may attempt, after public consultation, to turn the proposal into law before the parliamentary recess in the summer. The present speed limit dates from 1965 and some suggest that the figure was decided as it was the top speed that a 1960's Ford Anglia could manage as a typical family car. Part of the consultation will discuss whether the new limit should come into effect on all motorways. 

The proposal finds support from the road safety campaign group Safe Speed. The group’s co- founder Claire Armstrong said: “To set it at 80mph is fair and reasonable as drivers are doing it any way.” “Research suggests that even if you set it at 90mph, you find people will still drive between 80 and 85mph.” Also in agreement with the plans is the AA.

In France and Italy the maximum speed limit is 81mph, while in Ireland and Spain the limit is 75mph. The economic benefit to the government of drivers spending their money on petrol. Apparently, we use 25 per cent more fuel at 80mph then we do at 70mph. Another factor in the mix is the decrease in revenue from speeding tickets. 

Contrasting views:

Kelvin Clinton the head of road safety at the Royal  Society for the Prevention of Accidents: “It would be a mistake to increase the limit on motorways because higher speeds would mean not only more crashes but more severe crashes.” “Higher speeds would also mean increased fuel consumption." Also against the move is the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, which has argued that an increase in speed will mean an increase in road accidents of between 5 and 10 per cent. 

M23LAW would welcome any comments on this proposal.

Criminals to exploit cuts?

The think tank Civitas reckons that the Government's 20 per cent budget cuts and pay review could encourage criminality. Criminals might perceive that police resources are stretched and be more encouraged to commit crime. This was based on a study of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

Robbery in Crawley, West Sussex.

A security guard was tied up and assaulted during a robbery at a business park in Crawley. The man was taken to East Surrey Hospital with facial injuries following the robbery at the Tilgate Forest Business Centre. Officers were patrolling the Brighton Road at 0210 GMT on Friday 11th. March 2011 when they spotted a suspicious vehicle. A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "They entered the park and disturbed two men at the rear of the premises. "The pair ran from the area on foot and the officers gave chase but were unable to find them." When officers returned to the business park, they found the security guard tied up inside the building.

Frank Lampard Accelerates.

Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard has been banned for driving at more than 90mph on the A3 in Surrey. Lampard had admitted speeding in a 50mph zone in his Range Rover at Claygate at a previous hearing. Staines magistrates were told the footballer, who was not in court, was clocked driving towards London at 91mph in March 2010. He was banned from driving for 90 days and fined £850. Lampard was also ordered to pay £2,300 costs.

Police Officers Refused to attend Fatal Stabbing

Two police officers who refused to attend an incident where a woman was stabbed to death have been disciplined. The Northamptonshire officers said they were too busy to attend a house near Northampton where Louise Webster, 40, was later found dead. Her partner Martin Ashby was jailed for life last week for her murder. An Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) inquiry found that although the two were close by, another officer had to disarm the suspect. The officers have received final written warnings. The IPCC concluded the officers would not have been able to save Ms Webster but would have been able to detain the suspect, Ms Webster's partner Martin Ashby, who was convicted of murder last week and assisted those who remained in danger. Police received an emergency call at 0011 GMT on 18 January 2010 from Ms Webster's home where screaming and shouting could be heard and two minutes later it was confirmed that someone had been stabbed.

Pavement Sex only "Floor Play."

This "Crazy Paving"case is similar to one that Andrew Parker represented on a few decades ago in South London:

A TEENAGER who tried to have sex with the PAVEMENT in a busy street claimed yesterday it was a drunken prank - and escaped being put on the sex offenders' list.

Motorists looked on in shock as Steven Marshall, 18, hauled down his trousers and started to simulate sex on the floor.
Marshall - drinking while taking pills for arthritis - also carried out a vile sex act in front of a horrified female taxi driver in Galashiels, Selkirkshire.
He admitted a charge of public indecency at Selkirk Sheriff Court and got 12 months probation.
Sheriff Drummond commented: "This was bizarre. Anyone who lies on the road in the daylight, is significantly intoxicated and is partially undressed has a problem."
But Marshall will NOT be put on the Sex Offenders' Register after Sheriff Drummond accepted the June offence "was not primarily sexually motivated".
Published: 18 Dec 2007 The Sun Newspaper.

Wig and Down - Descent in Court.

Old Bailey Tuesday 8th, March: A Woolwich Crown Court judge, HHJDouglas Marks Moore, rugby tackled a sex offender to the ground as he ran out of the judge's door. He successfully prevented the defendant Paul Reid from escaping from court after Reid was giving evidence from the witness box during his trial. Two years ago this defendant successfully escaped from another court.
Andrew Parker of M23LAW has also had a client who smashed through the supposedly unbreakable glass around the dock in the soon to be defunct Sutton Magistrates Court in Surrey. A few days later, Andrew persuaded the client to give himself up. He received a year in custody, which is usually the sentencing norm for this offence depending on the circumstances.

ACPO

The Association of Chief Police Officers is responsible for defining national standards and professional practice in key areas of policing. Standards and practice provide a framework which supports accountability, interoperability and improvement in working practices across the police service and its partners. In high risk areas of policing they help ensure consistency of approach, underpin training and business processes and thereby better protect the public. All standards and practice are agreed collectively by Chief Constables through ACPO Cabinet and Council before adoption. ACPO guidance and practice advice defines nationally agreed good practice for forces, but accountability as to whether to adhere to such guidance rests with chief constables who are operationally independent.
There is, for example, the ACPO Code of Practice for Operational Use of Road Policing Enforcement Technology. This has in recent years provided guidance for implementation and correct use of items such as radar and laser speed camera devices. It is currently in abeyance as it is being redrafted.

European Court of Human Rights.

Just a little bit of information on the ECHR:

The court sits in Strasbourg and was formed against the backdrop of the Second World War. British jurists or lawyers contributed.

Our parliament passed the 1998 Human Rights Act giving British judges the ability to implement the ECHR in UK courts.

When cases reach Strasbourg, the panel of judges includes a British judge.

Andrew Parker and Paul Hedley-Saunders have taken a case all the way to the ECHR on the issue of entrapment by the press. This was when we acted for an actor who was caught in a News of the World fake sheikh "sting."

John Shannon (also known as John Alford) had supplied just over two grams of cocaine, worth about £200, and a small amount of cannabis resin worth about £40 on the same date to a News of the World journalist posing as an Arab sheikh in an elaborate stratagem designed to obtain evidence of drug offences against him.

We attempted to exclude all the prosecution evidence on the ground that it was agent provocateur evidence unfairly obtained contrary to section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 which deprived the appellant of a fair trial guaranteed by article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

M23LAW believe in the ECHR as we feel that on balance it has helped protect the rights of all Britons.

Around 700 police officers in Wales are off sick or on reduced duties

Almost one in 10 police officers in Wales is either on sick leave or carrying out limited duties, according to new figures. Around 700 of 7,422 officers are unable to perform full duties, with 162 on long-term sick - 28 days or more. The Taxpayers Alliance in Wales said the figure was too high. But the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents officers, said policing was a "contact sport" where injuries were possible. The figures have been compiled from Freedom of Information requests by the BBC Wales news website to the four Welsh forces. Steve Williams, secretary of the Police Federation in Wales, said: "Policing is very much a contact sport for want of a better term. "It very often involves violence and can lead to injury.' But Lee Canning, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance in Wales, said he believed the one-in-10 figure was too high. And he said he was concerned about the amount of bureaucracy involved before officers could return to work after an injury. The figures suggest North Wales Police has the lowest proportion of officers on sick leave or restricted/recuperative duties - one in 15. For the other forces in Wales, the figure is around one in nine or 10 officers. North Wales Police also has the fewest number of officers on long-term sick leave, despite having more officers than Gwent and Dyfed-Powys. The figures mostly relate to 21 January this year, the date the request was made to the forces.

Speed Trap - £1 million failure

An average speed system on the A 537 in the Peak District between Macclesfield and Buxton has failed to lead to a single prosecution! The system cost almost a million pounds and measures average speed. It was installed after many fatal accidents on this road.Motorists have cheated the system by using shortcuts and the scheme may now be scrapped.

Secret court forced to open doors in custody battle

A father’s struggle to be allowed to care for his autistic son made legal history yesterday when a judge ruled that the story of his ongoing battles with his local council could be made public.

Mark Neary attracted a wave of public sympathy when it first became known that the council had separated from him from the son he had been looking after for 20 years. But after the initial outcry, silence descended over the case when Hillingdon Council took it to the Court of Protection.

These courts, which deal with very vulnerable people, very rarely allow any of their proceedings to be reported. But a media campaign produced a breakthrough yesterday when Mr Justice Peter Jackson ruled that the press would be allowed into the hearings that would determine Steven Neary’s future, and could report details of the case.

Mr Neary's mistake was to turn to Hillingdon Council in December 2009 when he was suffering from flu-like symptoms. He asked them to take his son into a residential care home, supposedly for just three days to give him respite. The 20-year old's behaviour deteriorated and social workers suggested that he should be moved to a specialist behavioural unit. His father agreed. One night in April, Steven escaped from the council home in his pyjamas, met a Vicar on the street, removed his glasses and threw them on the ground. Hillingdon Council’s response was a Deprivation of Liberty Order, under which Steven was allowed home for only two hours at a time and was barred from staying overnight.

Two court hearings still have to be held. The first will consider an allegation that Hillingdon Council acted illegally by deprived by the youth of his liberty.  There is also a hearing into his future care arrangements set for Monday.

Please remember that M23LAW has acted for many suspects and defendants who fall within the autistic spectrum, such as Aspergers.

Liberty and Kettling.

Liberty asked to observe policing of anti-cuts rally

Civil liberties campaigners have been asked by police to act as legal observers at this month’s anti-cuts march, following heavy criticism of “kettling” at recent demonstrations.

The rally in central London on 26 March – three days after the Budget – is expected to attract at least 200,000 marchers in the biggest trade union show of strength for decades. In an unprecedented move, Scotland Yard and the TUC have invited Liberty to monitor the march to ensure policing is safe and proportionate.

The move follows anger over the use of kettling – confining marchers to one area for hours – during the G20 demonstrations of 2006 and last year’s student tuition fee protests.

Please see Andrew's blog of 7th. December 2010.