Recent Cases and News

As of 6 December 2018, law firms are required to publish information about certain price, service and regulatory matters.   Who needs to publish information? An authorised firm or a sole practitioner must publish cost information on its website (or...

On 29th January 2017, Christine Sullivan and her housemate were found murdered in Farmington, New Hampshire. Their bodies were discovered by the house owner, Dean Smoronk, who was Sullivan’s boyfriend. Timothy Verrill, an associate of Smornok, was...

A suspended sentence is a term of imprisonment that is suspended so that you do not go into custody immediately and will not go into custody if you comply with the conditions attached. Who can get a suspended sentence? In the Magistrates’ Court,...

What is it? Restorative Justice, or RJ as it is sometimes known, is a way of holding offenders to account and can be used as an alternative to a caution or conviction, or alongside a sentence.   What happens? RJ gives a victim the opportunity to...

There are two main offences that are prosecuted in relation to benefit fraud, one involves dishonesty, the other does not. The dishonesty offence It is an offence to dishonestly make a representation in order to obtain benefit, and this includes a...

After a recent spate of assaults involving the use of acids and other corrosive substances, the government has acted to try and curb their use. At the present time around 15 offences per week involve the use of acid and other like substances. In January...

In legal shorthand we often refer to section 18 or 20 offences, these refer to specific offences under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. What is the difference between section 18 and section 20? The most serious form of assault (short of attempt...

Coercing someone into marrying another for some financial or societal benefit is illegal. In April of this year, three young women in Sheffield became subject to Forced Marriage Protection Orders. This case highlights the how embedded this type of offending...

Prosecuting those who publish obscene articles (an offence under section 2 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959) is hardly prudish, despite what certain commentators would argue. The maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment will frequently be...

You may have heard about ‘texts’ or a ‘Brown envelope to the Judge’, some of the names for the old system. If you helped the police a ‘text’ may be handed to the sentencing judge explaining that you had assisted and a...