I am not a criminal solicitor or, more accurately, I am not a solicitor who advises criminals. I do not even advise completely innocent people who happen to have been arrested for something they clearly did not do. I send them down the road. I stick to my last. I am a civil litigator and that is it. Expect more of me and you will be sadly disappointed.
This case did interest me, however:
G v Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police (Interested Parties: the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Secretary of State for the Home Department)
Gordon Bennett, you may say. With that lot involved this must be a momentous case of hugely significant public import involving fundamental questions of human liberties.
You may be wrong.
The yob (sorry, "persistent young offender") was detained for three hours at a police station. He only had "eight previous convictions, including three for violence" so naturally he complained that this was unlawful. How could they possibly suspect him of being involved in "an unpleasant incident on a bus in Leeds in which a number of youths attacked passengers"? Was it because he was on the bus? How dreadfully unjust!
You will want to read the full case (because you paid for it out of the legal aid budget funded by your taxes) but the nub of the conclusion was that the court was "entirely clear that, on any view, however one approaches it, the detention was lawful". An appeal may be being prepared now and my take on this case may be entirely wrong. I am not keen, however, on legal executives who carry around standard letters:
"Mr Conaghan informed the custody officer that in his view there was no proper basis for detaining the claimant since there was sufficient evidence to charge him and section 37 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act required that he be released on bail or charged. Mr Conaghan produced a standard letter to that effect and it seems that that is a letter which he customarily carries with him and produces at police stations when a situation such as that which existed in this case arises."
Who wrote that letter?
IMPORTANT NOTE
No insult is intended to the current Home Secretary by the use of Mr. Blunkett's photograph on this posting. Mr. Blunkett is an emblametic Home Secretary and, anyway, the rapidity with which that particular job parcel gets passed these days means that even the internet cannot keep up. Who is the current Home Secretary?
PS: No-one has told Mr. B he's not HS anymore judging by his appearances (should that be voiceacts?) on the Today radio show.
This case did interest me, however:
G v Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police (Interested Parties: the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Secretary of State for the Home Department)
Gordon Bennett, you may say. With that lot involved this must be a momentous case of hugely significant public import involving fundamental questions of human liberties.
You may be wrong.
The yob (sorry, "persistent young offender") was detained for three hours at a police station. He only had "eight previous convictions, including three for violence" so naturally he complained that this was unlawful. How could they possibly suspect him of being involved in "an unpleasant incident on a bus in Leeds in which a number of youths attacked passengers"? Was it because he was on the bus? How dreadfully unjust!
You will want to read the full case (because you paid for it out of the legal aid budget funded by your taxes) but the nub of the conclusion was that the court was "entirely clear that, on any view, however one approaches it, the detention was lawful". An appeal may be being prepared now and my take on this case may be entirely wrong. I am not keen, however, on legal executives who carry around standard letters:
"Mr Conaghan informed the custody officer that in his view there was no proper basis for detaining the claimant since there was sufficient evidence to charge him and section 37 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act required that he be released on bail or charged. Mr Conaghan produced a standard letter to that effect and it seems that that is a letter which he customarily carries with him and produces at police stations when a situation such as that which existed in this case arises."
Who wrote that letter?
IMPORTANT NOTE
No insult is intended to the current Home Secretary by the use of Mr. Blunkett's photograph on this posting. Mr. Blunkett is an emblametic Home Secretary and, anyway, the rapidity with which that particular job parcel gets passed these days means that even the internet cannot keep up. Who is the current Home Secretary?
PS: No-one has told Mr. B he's not HS anymore judging by his appearances (should that be voiceacts?) on the Today radio show.
No comments:
Post a Comment