Recently in England Category

Probation union NAPO has spoken out against the short sentences handed down to stalkers, claiming that they allow no time for rehabilitation and treatment. Although some violent stalkers are handed down sentences of more than 12 months, many are given just a few days behind bars or are sentenced with community orders.

120,000 people in the UK are subject to behaviour which could be seen as stalking each year. However only half of those will make a complaint to police and of those only one in 50 will lead to an offender being jailed, said the union.

"It is abundantly clear that if the criminal justice system does not intervene early to prevent stalking behaviour, then that behaviour escalates to violence and even murder. There is virtually no training for any criminal justice professional in understanding stalking and therefore it is no surprise that the response is so inadequate," said Harry Fletcher, the union's assistant general secretary.

Ministers in the House of Commons are calling for a free vote to decide whether the law which bans foxhunting should be repealed. However, in a surprising move, pro-hunting groups have remained fairly neutral on whether the law needs to be changed at all.

The Countryside Alliance, which was formed in response to the law which banned hunting with dogs, claims that support for hunting is actually stronger now than it has ever been. It said it would be more 'sensible' for the government to focus its energy on the economy and avoid getting mired down in controversial legislation. However Alice Barnard, their chief executive, said the organisation was firmly committed to overturning the law in the long term.

The latest round in this ongoing debate was sparked by two ministers, Jim Paice and Richard Benyon, who spoke out against the law, saying it was unenforceable and unworkable.

Road safety campaigners have revealed that a driver with 39 penalty points on their licence, the highest number in Britain, has not been banned from driving.

Drivers with 12 points on their licence usually face a six-month driving ban which is why campaigners are so shocked that a driver with 39 penalty points has not been removed from the roads.

The information was obtained by BBC West by making a Freedom of Information request to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The driver is from the Swindon area but the DVLA would not reveal the offences that had led to the accumulation of 39 penalty points.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said the Government is consulting with Commonwealth countries as to whether the laws on royal succession should be changed.

The effect of the change under discussion would be that female heirs would have equal standing to be able to ascend the throne. Other aspects of reform would also be considered.

The president of the Law Society Linda Lee has written a letter to the Daily Mail in response to an article that appeared in the paper on Monday 4 April 2011.

The newspaper featured an article with the headline 'Now we have more lawyers than police thanks to legal aid." It included Law Society figures that show the number of solicitors and barristers in the UK has risen in the last ten years. In addition, the article said there are currently 165,000 lawyers in the country and 142,363 police officers.

The article then went on to discuss the number of lawyers employed by local authorities, the average starting salary of a trainee lawyer, the Law Society's Sound Off For Justice campaign against the government's proposed cuts to legal aid, and votes for prisoners.

The Cumberland sausage is the latest British speciality food to be granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status by the EU.

Under EU law, only sausages that are produced, processed and prepared in Cumbria and meet specific standards can be marketed and sold as Cumberland sausages under the PGI mark.

In order to be a Cumberland sausage, a sausage must have an 80% meat content and be sold in a long coil. It must also contain seasoning.

The humble Cornish pasty has been granted protected status by the European Commission. From March 2011, only those pasties that have been made in Cornwall according to the traditional recipe may be called "Cornish pasties".

The campaign for protected status began in 2002 when Cornish pasty producers in Cornwall began to worry about competition from inferior products produced elsewhere in the country. Now it has been granted Protected Geographical Indication status, the producers can ensure that only their genuine product can be sold under the name.

Alan Alder, the head of the Cornish Pasty Association, said the status will "protect our British food legacy". He also said it will be good for the rural economy, as thousands are involved in the pasty industry in Cornwall.

UK banks will lend £190 billion to businesses while cutting their own bonuses, the government has announced.

The good news comes as many firms have struggled to raise funds and survive the financial crisis.

£76 billion of lending is to be allocated to the Business Growth Fund, which will be set aside for small or medium-sized UK businesses.

Posts on the social media platform Twitter are not private and newspapers are free to publish them, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has ruled.

The judgement came after Sarah Baskerville, a civil servant with the Department of Transport, posted tweets criticising government cuts and suggesting she was hungover at work. The tweets were picked up and published by the Daily Mail and the Independent on Sunday in November 2010.

In an article entitled 'The hounding of Baskerville', the Independent claimed Ms Baskerville was breaking the civil service's code of neutrality. They said she tweeted "How much more can we take from this Govt" over plans for McDonald's and PepsiCo to help write health policy, and asserted that "Nick Clegg sold out faster than Muse".

The government is to cut more than 10,000 police jobs across England and Wales, claim the Labour Party.

Labour's research findings say a 20 per cent slash to the police budget will see the loss of many thousands of police officers over the next two years.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said on the Guardian's website: "Far from protecting frontline policing as ministers promised, over 10,000 police officers are being cut in the next few years alone.

Over 135,000 individuals were declared insolvent in the UK last year, up from 2009.

The Insolvency Service released figures this week showing a rise of 0.7 per cent in individuals applying for insolvency in England and Wales.

Financial experts KPMG are quoted on the Independent website estimating creditors are losing £20 million a day from UK insolvencies.

A 41 year-old man was banned this week from having sex by the High Court, raising issues of the legal and moral complexities of such a ruling.

The man, known only as Alan, has an IQ of 48 and, what Judge Mr Justice Mostyn described as, a "vigorous sex drive."

The court learned Alan had been in a relationship with another man called Kieron .

A top UK judge has proposed changes to the law for unmarried partnerships, claiming the present situation is an "injustice".

Sir Nicholas Wall, head of the government's family law division, urged reform this week. 

The judge believes unmarried couples who break up should have the legal right to have a fair share of assets and money between them.

BBC's Richard Hammond is revving up for a legal fight after a Mexican woman went to her lawyers, accusing the Top Gear star of attacking her compatriots.

Hammond described Mexicans on air as "lazy, feckless, flatulent [and] overweight"

Lawyers, on behalf of Iris De la Torre, are set to bring a test case against the popular television show under a new UK equality law. The new Equality Act came into force in September 2010.