July 2011 Archives

Following the recent Government reforms in legal aid, a clause in the Sentencing, Legal Aid and Punishment of Offenders Bill that prevents squatters from receiving legal aid has led to new proposals that squatting should be made a criminal offence.

Currently, it is not actually illegal to squat but Justice Minister Crispin Blunt believes that it should be.

He said: "Law-abiding property owners or occupiers who work hard for a living can spend thousands of pounds evicting squatters from their properties, repairing damage and clearing up the debris they have left behind.

The Government yesterday (28 July) revealed their new organised crime strategy after announcing that a record £1 billion worth of crime assets had been seized, frozen or returned during last year.

The new strategy includes roles for law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, as well as private sector specialists such as forensic accountants.

The report outlines the creation of a new National Crime Agency, coming into operation in 2013, which will replace the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The Government yesterday (28 July) revealed their new organised crime strategy after announcing that a record £1 billion worth of crime assets had been seized, frozen or returned during last year.

The new strategy includes roles for law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, as well as private sector specialists such as forensic accountants.

The report outlines the creation of a new National Crime Agency, coming into operation in 2013, which will replace the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

In April this year, the Government rolled out reassessment tests for people claiming incapacity benefit, a nationwide shake-up that affected around 1.6million people.

The test aims to place those deemed fit to work into a "work programme" scheme, while those who are not fit to work are to be given a new benefit called the Employment and Support Allowance.

But the results of the reassessment showed that nearly 40% of claimants were deemed fit to work, leading some to claim that the Government's reasons behind the test were simply "to save money".

Since the coalition Government came into power, there has been a great deal of talk about budget cuts. The plans to cut legal aid, which had a budget of £2.1billion, will have a wide-ranging impact on members of the public. There are now many areas of law that are no longer covered by legal aid such as family law (unless the issue concerns child welfare), medical negligence, non-asylum immigration cases and many others.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill outlines the new rules about who is entitled to legal aid and for what type of legal issue.

As before, in order to qualify for legal aid, you need to meet certain conditions. These include a financial means test and a 'merits' test, which evaluates the chance of your case's success. You should consult a solicitor who can check whether you are eligible.

Three couples are fighting a new law, which came into force in the UK last year in November, which requires immigrants to be able to speak English if they wish to join their spouses in this country.

The couples are requesting a judicial review, claiming that the new law breaches the human right to a family life and that it is discriminatory.

Rashida Chapti, 54, is a British citizen and she has been married to Vali Chapti, 57, for 37 years and has six children. For the past 15 years, Mrs Chapti has travelled between England and India in order to spend time with her husband, but now she wishes Mr Chapti to live with her in Leicester.

A recent review of personal insolvency has led to the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs to propose raising the threshold for debt for which creditors may petition for bankruptcy.

Currently for a debt of at least £750, a creditor may make their debtor bankrupt. This amount was set in the Insolvency Act 1986 and has not been amended since.

Mr Davey has proposed increasing this threshold to £3,000 since being able to "threaten someone with bankruptcy for such a small amount is disproportionate."

Hewlett Packard, the prime contractor for the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) plans to move some 200 ICT support jobs from Newcastle, Sheffield and Lytham St Annes to India, pending approval from ministers.

But a group of MPs are campaigning against this move, claiming that moving millions of people's personal data to another country could pose a huge potential security threat.

They claimed they were "alarmed at the increased security risks of storing millions of live personal data files, including national insurance numbers, offshore".

While the Government is determinedly cutting back public funding at the expense of NHS staff and services, recent figures show that hospitals in the North East of England are spending millions of pounds on medical negligence compensation claims and on hiring temporary and agency staff.

Throughout 2009-2010, hospitals in the region paid out a total of £22,307,000 to people who had received botched healthcare and subsequently made compensation claims.

And a further £62million was spent ensuring that North East hospitals had sufficient staff cover, hiring agency and temporary staff to fill gaps made by job losses and hiring freezes.

The sixth state in the USA to legally allow gay couples to be married, New York was host to a record number of ceremonies on Sunday (24 July), the day the new law came into force.

The law came into effect at midnight on 23 July and, moments afterwards, the first ceremony took place at Niagara Falls with the stunning waterfall as a backdrop, rainbow-coloured lights shining on it (the colours representing gay pride).

A total of 659 couples were married on Sunday, with many others queuing up to be married in the coming weeks, as soon as they receive their marriage licences.

In light of the approaching deadline for the government's 'Modern Workplaces' consultation, two employment organisations have released reports stating that the new legislation is not the answer to providing efficient flexible-working solutions.

The government's proposals include extending rights to flexible working for new parents and for all workers employed for 26 consecutive weeks.

But the CBI and the EEF both agree that instead of introducing legislation, the government should set out its objectives and processes in flexible guidance or codes of practice, and that this same approach should be applied to EU directives.

Government cuts have meant that councils across the country are planning to close down public libraries, much to the indignation of many concerned readers and writers.

But campaigners have achieved some success recently in Somerset, where a judge has granted an injunction to postpone the closure of libraries until at least September.

In September there will be a full judicial review to decide the fate of 11 libraries in Somerset from which the council plan to withdraw funding.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver officially filed for divorce on 1 July after 25 years of marriage. This week, the former governor of California filed his response to her divorce petition.

In the papers filed at the Superior Court of California, Arnie's lawyer Bob Kaufman has ticked the box that requests the judge not to award Maria spousal maintenance.

Both parties have asked to have joint custody of their two youngest children, Patrick who is 17 and Christopher, 13.

Even in our modern world in which most of our correspondence is electronic, we still rely on the Royal Mail to deliver birthday cards, parcels, bills and more. Despite describing it as 'snail mail', we expect our letters to arrive in our letterboxes promptly and intact. But for three-and-a-half years, residents in parts of Burnley, Lancashire, did not receive their post at all.

Postman Steve Tasker recently admitted to stashing away more than 31,000 letters and parcels in his home between March 2007 and September 2010.

As well as hiding away the post in his house, he also admitted to opening some of the letters, stealing £200 in cash meant as gifts.

After losing her soldier husband recently, Stacey Connolly was shocked to learn that the MoD had decided to release her husband's body not to her, but to his mother.

Stacey and her mother-in-law Linda McComiskie cannot agree on where Private Mark Connolly's final resting place should be: his mother wants to bury him in a family lair in Methil, Fife, but Stacey claims that Mark did not like Methil and wants him buried by her brother in Forfar, Angus.

Stacey is now seeking a judicial review of the MoD's decision to send Mark's body to his mother.

The family of a woman who suffers from severe brain damage are fighting a court battle to allow them to withdraw the tubes which artificially feed and hydrate her, and end her life.

The woman, known as M to protect her identity, contracted a viral infection in 2003 which left her brain damaged in a "minimally conscious state" and entirely dependent on others.

M's family have applied to the Court of Protection to euthanize her, claiming that before she was brain damaged she clearly stated that she would never want to live a life that was dependent on others.

Despite earning up to £800 a month through posing for adult websites, Clare Evans fraudulently claimed a total of £62,747 in income support and housing benefits.

Ms Evans first made a legitimate benefit claim in 2001, but from 2004 onwards she was claiming while working as a glamour model for the next six years.

But in October 2009, Ms Evans was caught out when her brand new Audi TT was spotted in her driveway by officials from South Gloucestershire Council.

A long and bitter legal battle has fizzled out after spanning seven years and racking up millions of pounds of legal costs.

Paul Allen, trustee of the estate of Adrian Jacobs, made a claim in 2004 that J K Rowling had plagiarized a book called 'Willy the Wizard', by Adrian Jacobs, when she wrote her famous book 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'.

Last week, the court of appeal ordered Mr Allen to pay £1.5million as a security against costs, and gave Friday (15 July) as a deadline for the first instalment.

In a first for UK law, a man suffering from a particularly virulent strain of pulmonary tuberculosis is to be found and arrested under the Public Health and Control of Disease Act.

Gary Layden, from Fleetwood in Lancashire, is being hunted by the police who have the power to take him into quarantine at Blackpool Victoria Hospital for a 28-day-treatment period, since his illness is highly contagious.

A friend of Mr Layden recently died from the disease, and doctors believe there are a further 12 people who suffer from it.

A proposal for a new 'Clare's Law' is being launched today (18 July) that could alert women to the violent pasts of new partners, using the recently launched national police database.

The law, named after Clare Wood who was murdered by a man she met through online dating, is being launched by Miss Wood's father Michael and has the backing of the Government's Victims Commissioner, Louise Casey and former Labour cabinet minister Hazel Blears.

As women, and men, are increasingly meeting potential partners through online dating, they have no knowledge of their previous relationships or their pasts.

Many companies offer users the chance to opt-out of having their movements tracked on websites, but not all of them keep their promise to not monitor online activity.

Advertising networks and publishers store information of user behaviour online in 'cookies': a small text file of user activity stored on a user's computer that websites can access. Companies use these cookies to help target adverts based on user behaviour.

The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) runs a voluntary scheme that encourages businesses to comply with certain rules about monitoring user activity online.

Janet Cathie, from Glasgow, had set up a lucrative business setting up sham weddings for foreign nationals who were desperate to remain in the UK.

She used her friends and family members as 'brides' and 'grooms', enticing them into helping her break immigration laws with the promise of money.

Donna Taylor, a friend of Ms Cathie, was lured into a sham marriage to Ernest Gyapong by a payment of £2,000. The wedding took place at Paisley register office in November 2006.

The UK is gaining a reputation for being a top destination for high-profile divorces. This has been bolstered by British courts awarding rich men's wives very generous settlements in high-profile divorce cases.

An increasing number of foreign nationals have been coming to Britain to settle their divorce disputes, even though they have little connection with this country.

The Russian tycoon Ilva Golubovich and his ex-wife Elena embarked on a "bitter and unruly" divorce case at courts in London, which resulted in more than £2.25 million in legal costs.

An 80-year-old naturist has been convicted of three counts of indecent exposure after his neighbours complained of his penchant for doing DIY in the nude.

Kevin Lavelle pleaded guilty at Stockport Magistrates Court on Monday (11 July) and was given a suspended sentence of eight weeks' jail time.

Neighbours of Mr Lavelle had worked together to produce a dossier of evidence detailing 18-months' worth of Mr Lavelle's unusual naked behaviour.

The Legal Services Board, an independent body that oversees the regulation of lawyers across England and Wales, announced it will begin investigating how consumers can best be protected from poor quality and bad sales practices when buying wills.

Market research carried out by the Legal Services Consumer Panel showed that consumers often have appalling experiences when buying wills, which can have "huge personal and financial consequences for those who we care about most".

In a mystery-shopper style exercise, one in five wills failed in the eyes of expert assessors.

Ricky Martin is to open a new Prevention Centre in Puerto Rico, which he hopes will help to protect young people from human trafficking.

The singer has various other initiatives running in Puerto Rico already including the 'Se Trata' community program, which is jointly run Doral Bank and Ricky Martin's own charitable fund the Ricky Martin Foundation, set up in 2000.

His foundation's mission is to "defend children's rights and in alliance with other sectors of society, hope to influence on adequate policy making and promote awareness efforts that will secure them the right to be children."

A debt management company, Parkgate UK Ltd., has had its licence revoked by the Office of Fair Trading after it sent a threatening letter to a debt collection agency.

Parkgate, representing a client who was in debt, warned the agency not to attempt to collect money from their client, threatening physical violence if they continued to do so.

As well as sending the threatening letter, Parkgate also failed to adhere to practices that a consumer credit business should, according to the OFT's guidelines.

Anthony Gregory Fowler, from Stockton, had been investigated by the police in September 2010 for dealing cannabis. But during his interviews with the police, it also became evident that the greyhound trainer had not only been supplying drugs to people but also to his dogs.

Mr Fowler had been drugging his greyhound Jake, amongst other dogs, with cannabis in order to make them run slowly so they would lose at the unlicensed dog race meetings he attended.

Once the dogs had lost and their odds got longer, Mr Fowler would place bets on his dogs and then feed them Viagra, which he said made them "run their heads off".

Jason Goodwin, a Tiger Woods "super fan", decided to show support for his favourite golfer by wearing a giant tiger suit at the PGA Tournament in Boston.

Unfortunately, his bright orange outfit did not meet with the approval of Woods' playing partner Angel Cabrera, who found it "too bright and bothersome".

Mr Goodwin was duly ejected from the golf course.

Following the unexpected closure of the infamous News of the World newspaper, some 200 journalists will find themselves out of work after being told they would receive a 90-day payment in lieu of a consultation.

The Sunday paper, in existence for 168 years and bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1969, was brought into disrepute after allegations of phone-hacking and paying police for information about stories were made against it.

The National Union of Journalists claim the payment is merely an "act of damage limitation". They said: "This outrageous manipulation of the legal right to be consulted on redundancies shows the contempt that the Murdoch empire has for its loyal staff. True to form, he believes he can buy his way out of his obligations."

The UK law firm Russell Jones & Walker claim that they are the setting a precedent in the UK by being the first to have a division dedicated to Sharia services.

The department will be run by Aina Khan, who specialises in family law, especially in finding solutions that satisfy both Sharia and English law.

Ms Khan said: "With the growth in numbers of practicing Muslims in the UK, and more women increasingly proud of their Islamic legal rights, there is an increasing need for UK lawyers who recognise the work that can be done to ensure equality and justice under English law."

First the first time in British legal history, a person has been convicted of drink driving a lawnmower.

Eighteen-year-old Joel Maunder from South Wales had been drinking at his home in Dinas Powys, in the Vale of Glamorgan, when he drunkenly decided to take his father's ride-on lawnmower for a joyride on the roads near his home.

He was found a mile away from his house, driving on the wrong side of the road on the £1,700 mower that is capable of 15mph.

In a recent speech to the Police Foundation think tank, Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge claimed that police officers are too often handing out on-the-spot fines to serious criminals who instead deserve to be brought to court.

Figures released by regulators showed that one in three offenders were given on-the-spot fines, known as penalty notices for disorder, or other 'out-of-court disposals' such as cautions and warnings when they should have been given a far greater punishment since their crimes were "too frequent or serious".

The number of out-of-court disposals issued has shot up in recent years from 241,000 in 2003 to 567,000 in 2008.

Most people have experienced the frustration and anger that comes with finding cheap flights online, only to discover that extra 'hidden' charges have been added to that low-cost flight by the time you reach the payment page.

Happily, this could soon become a thing of the past as both consumer watchdogs and the Office of Fair Trading have urged the government to ban surcharges on payments with debit cards.

Which?, the consumer watchdog, investigated fees and surcharges in the travel industry and found that flight ticket debit card surcharges are costing an extra £300million to customers' wallets each year.

Currently, UK legislation states that those who own a second home need not pay full council tax on the second property, this being because the owners argue they are not making full use of the council services as they do not live there all the time.

But councillors in Cornwall have decided to ask the government to change this law and charge, if not the full council tax on second homes, then half again on top of the premium.

There are around 246,000 second homes in England that are registered for a discount and around 13,500 of those, that's one in 20 houses, are in Cornwall.

MI5, the UK's Security Service, mistakenly gathered information about innocent people entirely unrelated to the criminal investigation they were operating, a recent report stated.

The report written by Sir Paul Kennedy, Interception of Communication Commissioner, was an annual review of law enforcement agencies and "the process underpinning the authorisation of interception" and "details of errors reported by agencies".

Sir Paul reports that a software failure resulted in MI5's acquisition of information relating to 134 telephone numbers that were unrelated to the particular criminal surveillance investigation.

The term 'next of kin' is often used but not always fully understood. It is often not entirely clear who should be a person's next of kin, or what responsibilities the title confers. In terms of the law, next of kin currently has no legal meaning. Therefore, when a person is named or chosen to be next of kin, they do not then automatically assume any kind of responsibilities in the eyes of the law.

Use of next of kin

A common example of when the term is used would be if your employer asks you for the details of your next of kin so that if you were to have an accident at work and be taken to a hospital, your next of kin could be informed.

Melanie Stark had worked for HMV within Harrods for five years before she was "driven out" of her job by the apparently sexist Harrods requirement that all female staff must wear full makeup.

She had been an exemplary worker who had been awarded commendations for her customer service skills and achieved a 94% mark from a mystery shopper, who monitored her performance while masquerading as a member of public.

In all her years working at the store, Ms Stark had never worn makeup, but last August after senior managers inspected the HMV concession, she was sent home for refusing to wear makeup.

Three teenagers are bringing a case against the police use of 'kettling' to the High Court in London, claiming that it contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights.

The practice of 'kettling' is employed by police as a means of crowd control. It involves surrounding and confining protesters for several hours.

The teenagers, Adam Castle, 16, Rosie Castle, 15, and Sam Eaton, 16, were caught in a 'kettle' when they joined the protest march on 24 November against the planned increased university fees. They were held by police with thousands of other students, schoolchildren, teachers and lecturers in Whitehall for eight hours.

In a survey conducted by price comparison website Car-Insurance-UK-Supermarket.co.uk, of the 100 people questioned a third felt that legal expense cover was not a necessary purchase when taking out car insurance.

Of this 33%, 15% felt that legal expense cover was better avoided and 18% thought it was a complete waste of money.

Only 19% thought the cover was essential, while 29% believed it was useful although not necessary and a further 19% were indifferent.

A rapidly growing number of tenants are struggling to pay rent and falling into arrears and, with the current economic climate, landlords are becoming less tolerant as can be seen by the increasing number of instructions against tenants in arrears.

Landlord Action, a company that specialises in helping landlords evict difficult tenants, have noted that the number of instructions against defaulting tenants has risen by 11% year on year.

Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action, believes that, although owners with buy-to-let mortgages are yet to feel the effects of rental arrears, landlords are losing their patience with tenants.

Following the rejection of Spurs' and Leyton Orient's challenges to the Olympic Park Legacy Company's decision to award the new stadium to West Ham, Spurs have since renewed their fight for judicial review.

Last week, Judge Mr Justice Davis claimed the north London football club had no grounds for a review.

But on Wednesday (29 June), Spurs issued the following statement: "The club has today applied to the High Court to renew its application for permission to bring a claim against the London Borough of Newham and the Olympic Park Legacy Company, the Mayor of London and Government Ministers for judicial review of their decisions underlying the bid process for the conversion of the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.

Most people in the UK are aware that if they harm an intruder while trying to protect themselves or their homes, there is a chance they could end up being the one in prison. But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has recently confirmed that householders who use "reasonable force" against burglars will not face criminal charges.

Just last week, a householder was arrested on suspicion of murder after stabbing a burglar in Salford, Greater Manchester.

But on 29 June, Mr Clarke said: "If an old lady finds she has got an 18-year-old burgling her house and she picks up a kitchen knife and sticks it in him, she has not committed a criminal offence and we will make that clear."