Legal News Round-Up – September 2024

What else made the headlines in the month of September?…

As we moved through September, the mainstream media headlines continued to focus on the riots over the summer – and the sentences being handed out, the early release of prisoners to free up space in our over-crowded prisons and other stories of how the new Government were getting to grips with the criminal justice system.

Here then we take a side-step from the mainstream, and look at some of the other stories you might have missed during September.

Conduct of “Angry Judge” not enough for Court of Appeal to order retrial.

We start this month with a rather unusual article in the Law Society gazette, where the conduct of a judge in a trial wasn’t deemed sufficiently innappropriate to warrant a retrial according to the Court of Appeal.

Last October, Leon Shortt was convicted of drug offences following a trial at St Albans Crown Court – but it was the conduct of the judge which lead to 16 individual complaints that prompted the Court of Appeal Hearing.

The complaints included a range of comments and innappropriate behaviour, including the interruption of the defense counsel’s cross-examination of an expert witness and the loss of temper twice with the defense counsel.

However, following the hearing and considering all of the complaints presented, the Court of Appeal judged that whilst there were a couple of “concerning” incidents, the overall outcome did not impact on the defense councel’s ability to focus or ability to represent their client.

Shortt also claimed that he felt belittled and undermined throughout – stating that the judge made the jury laugh at one point – although no audible evidence of laughter was presented.

To read more about this incredible hearing you can read more on the Law Society website, click here.

Suspended sentence quashed by CoA for incorrect sentencing length.

Staying with the Law Gazette – and indeed, the Court of Appeal – a story emerged in September of a suspended sentence being quashed as it was too short to be suspended.

The suspended sentence was issued by a judge for the Appellant failing to appear in time for his trial back in 2023.

The Appellant had been warned at the time that they would be given short-notice for appearing in court – with their trial being on the “warned list” to start on any day during a two-week period starting on 16 January 2023. The trial started on the second week.

The Appellant however was found to have lied when they said they hadn’t been made aware of this, as they arrived to court late for their trial.

The Appellent was found not guilty of the main assault charge, however because they had lied about their reason for not attending court when required, the Judge sentenced the Appellant to 7 days imprisonment, suspended for 6 months.

However, because the minimum term in prison for a suspended sentence is 14 days, the Court of Appeal quashed the suspended sentence.

You can read the full article on the Law Gazette website by clicking here.

Man wrongly convicted 33 years ago, has sentence quashed.

More quashing of convictions, and this time the BBC website reports on a man who says “I have not had a life” following a conviction for a murder back in 1990.

Oliver Campbell has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal following new evidence regarding Mr. Campbell’s mental state at the time of his conviction.

Campbell maintained that he had been made a “scapegoat” at the time and that he had been “bullied and badgered” into making a confession over the killing of Baldev Hoondle in East London in 1990.

Following the new evidence, 3 judges found Campbell’s conviction to be “unsafe” – quashing the conviction.

Mr. Campbell had served 11 years in prison until his release on a life license in 2002.

To read the full article, click here.

Phone & bag snatch crimes have more than doubled.

Sky News reported last month that figures for phone & bag snatch crimes have more than doubled in the period leading up to March 2024 – compared to the year previous.
With 78,000 crimes reported in the year to March – with 31,000 the previous year, the number of snatch thefts in England & Wales works out roughly 200 a day.

According to Home Office analysis, the conviction rates of such crimes is miniscule, with less than 1% of crimes leading to someone being charged, with 82% of police investigations being closed before a suspect was found.

The Government have of course promised to “get tough” on snatch theft crimes, looking to the police and even tech firms to help identify ways to both prevent and clampdown on these types of crimes.

To read the full article on the Sky News website, click here.

And Finally – A respected GP planned to kill his mother’s partner with a “fake” Covid jab.

Finally this month, Sky News also reported on the rather incredible story of a “respected” GP who is on trial for trying to kill his mother’s partner with a fake Covid booster jab.

Thomas Kwan is alleged to have carried out the audacious plan by disguising himself as a community nurse, having sent a false letter arranging the home visit.

Turning up in disguise at his mother’s home, he then spent 45 minutes carrying out medical checks on his mother’s partner, a Mr. O’Hara and even checked his own mother’s blood pressure at her request – with her completely unaware that it was her own son!

As the prosecuting KC pointed out in the trial, “Sometimes, occasionally perhaps, the truth really is stranger than fiction”.

Read more about this incredible story and more details here.

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