Charges against nurse dropped in connection with saline deaths
The nurse accused of contaminating saline drips at a Cheshire hospital, leading to the deaths of three patients, wishes to return to work and reestablish her professional reputation. Rebecca Leighton, a 27-year old nurse, was arrested in July this year after unexplained deaths at Stepping Hill hospital, in Stockport, and charged in connection with contaminating [...]
Filed under Criminal law, September 5th, 2011Date set for travellers’ eviction
The residents of Dale Farm, at Crays Hill, Essex, look set to be evicted by their local council, Basildon Council on 19 September. Much controversy has surrounded their impending eviction, with groups of supporters setting up camp on the property to protest against their eviction and even a UN council intervening to support the travellers.
Filed under Property law, September 5th, 2011BBC Proms concert interrupted by protesters
In what seems like an unusual target of pro-Palestinian protests, protesters last night disrupted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s BBC Proms concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. The performance was interrupted to such an extent that BBC Radio 3 said it had to interrupt its live broadcast twice “as a result of sustained audience disturbance”. The [...]
Filed under International law, September 2nd, 2011Increase in convictions for sex offences against children
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice indicate that the number of convictions for child sex offences in England and Wales is on the rise. The Guardian reports that a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Justice revealed the statistics that in 2005, 1,363 people were convicted while in 2010, that number had [...]
Filed under Criminal law, September 2nd, 2011Unregistered engineer risks customers’ safety
A gas engineer from Willenhall has been prosecuted for illegally carrying out work when he was not in fact registered as a Gas Safe registered engineer. Leslie Morgan, of Cedar Road, issued a gas safety certificate after installing a boiler at a house in Cannock. However, without the registration as a Gas Safe registered engineer, [...]
Filed under Employment law, September 1st, 2011Man in court for Birmingham triple murder
A 29-year old man is due to appear in court charged with the murder of the three brothers killed in the Birmingham riots. The death of the three brothers, Haroon Jahan, 21; Shazad Ali, 30; and Abdul Musavir, 31 on 10 August was one of the tragic outcomes of the riots that spread across the UK.
Filed under Criminal law, September 1st, 2011Time’s up for travellers living without planning permission
After a bitterly fought 10-year legal battle, the residents of Dale Farm, an illegal building site in Essex, are taking their case to the High Court in a last-minute attempt to halt their imminent eviction. The approximately 80 families who live on the site are travellers who own the land. Most of the residents have [...]
Filed under Property law, August 31st, 2011Waste sector is one of the most dangerous in the UK
A County Durham waste and recycling company has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive following the serious injury of a worker who was reversed into by one of the fleet’s vehicles. The 25-year-old employee of First Skips Ltd in Shotton Colliery was sorting recyclable material by hand when the incident occurred on 8 [...]
Filed under Employment law, August 31st, 2011Manchester man admits to blackmailing Wayne Rooney’s wife
Following a poorly thought through plot, Lee Platt, of Manchester, has pleaded guilty to blackmailing Coleen Rooney, the wife of Manchester United and England footballer Wayne Rooney. Platt was today convicted by the Manchester Crown Court and will be back before the Court at a later date for sentencing.
Filed under Criminal law, August 30th, 2011Essex contractor sentenced after friend’s fall through roof
A self-employed roofing contractor from Essex has been given a suspended prison sentence after a friend of his fell through the roof he was contracted to replace. His friend, Mr Waughman, a 58 year old man from Tiptree, suffered a stroke and fell through a gap in the rafters on to the floor below. Mr [...]
Filed under Employment law, August 30th, 2011Magistrates accused of handing down excessive sentences to rioters
The President of the Prison Governors Association has claimed that those charged with offences following the recent riots are being sentenced disproportionately harshly. The President asserts there has been a “feeding frenzy” of those convicted of riot-related crimes.
Filed under Criminal law, August 29th, 2011Changes to abortion counselling rules to remove bias
The Department of Health has confirmed it will change the rules that currently apply to the provision of counselling services for women who are considering abortion. Currently, charities and medics have exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking to terminate a pregnancy. The changes to the law will ensure that women are offered counselling “independently” of [...]
Filed under Human Rights, August 29th, 2011EU bill to reaffirm sovereignty of Westminster over Brussels
The foreign secretary, William Hague, has announced that the government proposes to legally enshrine in British law the sovereignty of Westminster over the EU. The plans were announced at the Conservative conference in Birmingham this week, and were met with a standing ovation from the audience.
Filed under International law, October 8th, 2010Legal Ombudsman launch set to reform legal complaints handling
The Legal Ombudsman (LeO) service will launch tomorrow, offering customers of legal professionals an effective, independent complaints handling mechanism. The LeO takes over from the Legal Complaints Service (LCS), the current complaints handling body. The service is being marketed as more than just a new complaints-handling body – it describes itself as offering “A new [...]
Filed under General legal information, October 6th, 2010Proposed changes to benefits laws loom
Chancellor George Osborne has announced various plans for social security reform to reduce the amount spent on welfare benefits as part of the UK government’s broader budget cuts. Working class families and single-parent families are among those most outraged by the proposed cuts.
Filed under Tax law, October 5th, 2010Calls for review of industrial legislation to curb crippling strikes
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and the chair of Transport for London, has called for changes to industrial laws that would prevent the current Tube strikes causing mayhem to London commuters. Johnson calls for a requirement of a 50% minimum participation threshold to be reached in ballots for industrial action. In doing so, Johnson [...]
Filed under Employment law, October 4th, 2010Criminal laws criticised for failure to deal with online stalking
The UK’s harassment and stalking laws have been facing criticism recently as their inadequacies have been highlighted in several cases, particularly online stalking cases. With the huge expansion of online social networking, especially Facebook, in the past few years, the number of incidents of online stalking reported to police has grown considerably.
Filed under Criminal law, September 30th, 2010Millions of pounds in compensation paid to unlawfully detained migrants
The Guardian reports that millions of pounds is being paid to migrants as compensation for their treatment in UK detention centres. The compensation payments are couched in terms of ‘special payments’, which government figures show amount to £12m for 2009/10; this is up on the £3m paid in the previous year. These special payments include [...]
Filed under Nationality and migration, September 27th, 2010What are the sources of UK law?
UK law comes from three main sources: legislation, case law and European law. When we consider the sources of UK law we must consider that the UK is made up of four different countries and as a result the sources of law vary between those countries. Scotland has its own system of laws and courts [...]
Filed under General legal information, September 24th, 2010What is the law regarding phone-tapping?
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights gives everybody in the UK the right to a private and family life. This guarantees respect for privacy, although it can be derogated from in certain situations, for example in the interests of national security. Your solicitor can explain where Article 8 may not apply and [...]
Filed under Disputes, September 23rd, 2010