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Bite Mark Evidence – Part One

What is bite mark evidence?

A bite mark is a pattern produced by the indentations of the teeth into any substance capable of being marked.

It is argued ...

Line of Duty – The Acronym

The new series of the BBC's Line of Duty is back on our screens, with another battle ahead for the police against serious organised crime.

For those new to this drama, the first episode may well have been very confusing. T...

Good character as mitigation

What is good character?

As far as the criminal courts are concerned, a person of good character is usually someone without convictions or cautions recorded against them. It is of particular relevance in a ...

Passenger Locator Forms and fraud – some jurisdictional issues

With due apologies for parochialism, we will concentrate in this blog on the legal position in England, though it seems likely that similar issues will arise in relation to the law of Wales.

Traditionally, at common law, n...

Is lying about where you’ve been on holiday capable of amounting to fraud?

On 12 February, the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) (Amendment) (No. 7) Regulations 2021 were published. These regulations amend the Read More

Police find girl,14, with axe in Newsham Park – Louise Bauress defends

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed to have found the axe in bushes while in the park with friends and did not know it was an offense to have the weapon.

She attended a voluntary interview where she a...

School uniforms, indirect discrimination and Jon Holbrook’s tweet

On 31 January 2021, barrister Jon Holbrook either resigned or was expelled (depending on whose version you believe) from Cornerstone Chambers following complaints about one of his tweets. Mr Holbrook retweeted a tweet from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (‘the EHRC’...

Should there be an appeals system for coronavirus fixed penalty notices?

Criminal offences are generally prosecuted through the courts, but from the 1950s onwards, police officers were given the power to issue on-the-spot fines for minor offences. This began with parking offences (which were subsequently decriminalised), but over time the power h...

Jury Trials & Covid-19

In a startling announcement, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland admitted that the right to a jury trial is in his sights and might be curtailed in a few weeks’ time.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic, the Crown Court case bac...

Freedom of expression and the Public Order Act 1986

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