Legal News Articles
Buy to let buyers showing interest in auction houses to improve their portfolios (31 May 2012)
More and more searches on property websites are now by buy to let property investors with indication that the figures were set to rise further this year.
Auction houses are also expecting to see a surge in bidders keen to expand their buy to let portfolios.
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The former newspaper proprietor Eddy Shah has been charged with child sex offences. (31 May 2012)
Mr Shah, 68, of Chippenham, Wiltshire, faces seven counts of raping a girl under 16 between 1993 and 1995. He was charged alongside a man and woman, both 52, at Hammersmith Police Station today. They would be appearing before the magistrate’s court on June 7. Read more...
An EU performance report says that one of the reasons UK economy was faltering was because of high accumulations of household debts (31 May 2012)
A European Commission report has warned that UK was getting destabilized because of high house prices and mortgage debt.
Evaluating the performances of EU member states the Commission report said UK had insufficient and rigid housing supply which was a cause for concern.
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Restaurateurs in Scotland are sitting with the UKBA to iron out concerns over surprise raids (30 May 2012)
Restaurant owners across Edinburgh have demanded a summit with the UK Border officials over the high handed behaviour in immigration raids.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is to chair a meeting between the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and the Edinburgh and Lothian Racial Equality Council (Elrec) to sort out concerns over surprise raids and the difficulties business owners face in staying on the right side of immigration law.
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Founder of Wikileaks lose his application against extradition in the Supreme Court (30 May 2012)
Julian Assange the Wikileaks founder who was fighting against his extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sex offences has lost his case in the Supreme Court.
The seven judges presided Supreme Court has ruled five to two against the application of Mr Assange. His legal team was given 14 days to consider the ruling before a final decision was made meaning the case could be reheard.
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A former senior lady judge has warned that too much of enthusiasm was being shown to appoint judges from ethnic minority and women to give a diversified touch ignoring merit (30 May 2012)
Baroness Butler-Sloss a former High Court judge has warned that to achieve diversity targets women and ethnic minority judges who were not up to the job were being appointed as judges.
The Baroness the most senior woman judge in England and Wales said that there had been too much interest shown for diverse appointments sacrificing merit in the process.
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A thinktank says country’s rich pensioners should lose some of their benefits to fund social cares system to some extent (29 May 2012)
In its report an influential thinktank has analysed that better off pensioners should lose some of their benefits such as winter allowances and free bus passes, and face higher rates of tax to raise cash for the country’s social care system.
Nuffield Trust argued that to cope with an ageing population and to limit elderly people^s exposure to catastrophic costs, social care budgets were needed to double to more than £25bn in a decade.
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A convicted rapist launches damage proceedings in the High Court against the Home Office claiming he was assaulted in the prison (29 May 2012)
A convicted rapist who is doing jail for the crime was said to be launching a court case against the Home Office for compensation of £500,000, claiming that he was attacked by two fellow prisoners. Read more...
MigrationWatch the think tank has called for radical set of measures to curb the net influx of migrants (29 May 2012)
With the net migration levels crossing 250,000 mark a far cry from the Conservative party’s election promises to reduce the net migration levels to below 100,000 by next elections has campaigners calling for some radical new controls to reach any where remotely to the promised levels. Read more...
The case of Baby P had left a fear among the social workers who despite their best efforts were castigated for errors which were inevitable the chief of BSAW says (28 May 2012)
British Association of Social Workers chief executive Hilton Dawson citing the case of Baby P social workers Gillie Christou and Maria Ward, who have lost their appeal against unfair dismissal ruling by an employment tribunal, said that the case should strike fear into the heart of every social worker. Read more...
Thousands of people who inherited properties could be in line for rebates as their properties could have been over estimated during the probate, tax experts say (28 May 2012)
As the property prices have been falling over the last four years some 20,000 people were in line for a rebate in inheritance tax according Tax specialists.
NFU Mutual the tax specialists said that the homeowners in the UK had overpaid to the tune of £90 million in tax on properties that they had inherited. The experts said majority of those who inherited property between June 2008 to February 2009 and June 2010 to August 2011 were in line for rebates.
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Wigan council gets the maximum number of complaints by tenants against the private landlords who let out squalid properties (28 May 2012)
Following a Freedom of Information request the Wigan Evening Post has said it could reveal that there were more than 1,200 complaints made by tenants to the Wigan Council against the private landlords who left their tenants in filthy and neglected properties which could expose them to disease and even death according to a housing charity. Read more...
Fear of migrants from EU coming into UK due to euro / Greece collapse sets Home Office to think of contingency plans (28 May 2012)
The Home Secretary while talking to The Daily Telegraph said that the Government was making contingency plans to tackle the potential influx of immigrants in case the euro currency collapsed. Read more...
A young woman admitting unlawful wounding was let off by the court with suspended sentence as she was a hardworking descent girl (25 May 2012)
Claire Stephens an accounts manager who attacked Rachel Spikula and left her fighting for her life after smashing a wine glass into her neck was allowed to go free after the judge described her as a ‘decent young woman’.
Stephens, 23, attacked Rachel Spikula a student after they knocked into each other on the dance floor at Club 49 in London’s West End.
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Post Baby P incident the social services have been reacting to situations much faster than they were doing three years back an official figures shows (25 May 2012)
An official figure released from the records of Cafcass, the agency looking into the children’s interests in the family courts has revealed remarkable variations in the levels of care applications across the country. Read more...
Former Lloyds Bank head of fraud and security for digital banking has been charged with defrauding the bank of £2.46m (25 May 2012)
Jessica Harper the former head of fraud and security for digital banking at Lloyds Banking Group has been charged with a fraud to the tune of £2.46m.
She has been accused of claiming the money by submitting false invoices which she was not entitled to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. The CPS has authorised the Metropolitan Police to frame charges against her for a single count of fraud.
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Coventry City Council finding it difficult to place children in foster care as number of asylum seeking children are increasing by the day (25 May 2012)
Figures to the Telegraph from Coventry City Council’s fostering service has showed that in the past 12 months fourteen unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people came to the city after fleeing their countries of domicile.
It is estimated that a new child arrives to seek asylum in Coventry more than once a month on an average.
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New online tool for landlords being launched by the Scottish government to help landlords and letting agents to comply with deposit regulations (24 May 2012)
The LPS Scotland has developed a compliance calculator to help landlords and the letting agents get to understand and calculate the date by which they need to comply with the new Scottish Government deadlines to secure all deposits. Read more...
Prime Minister is firm on continuing the ban on voting for prisoners with even Labour supporting his stance (24 May 2012)
Labour has said it would support the prime minister’s position on voting rights to the prison inmates. David Cameron had said the ban on voting from jail was a matter for the Parliament and not a foreign court to decide.
But Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams said prisoners who were serving short sentences should be allowed to vote as part of their rehabilitation.
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The director general of the UK Border Force has said that there was a chance of airport security queues of up to four hours during the London Olympics. (23 May 2012)
Brian Moore said even though he was satisfied with the planned staffing levels to deal with the expected surge of arrivals, but he said he could not guarantee that there would be no delays.
He said he did not anticipate large queues of two, three and four hours because of the work that was being done to move its resources, he was responding to MPs queries about the recent problems.
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British expats who invested in second homes in Spain are in a desperate situation due to Spanish banking melt down and fleeing back to UK (23 May 2012)
Spain was a fun time place for thousands of Britons with luxurious holidays and sun baked retirement, many invested on properties to spend their time in their Spanish retreats. The property market was flourishing Read more...
Poverty adviser to Downing Street has warned that influx of Europeans was the main reason for joblessness in Britain (23 May 2012)
A former Labour Minister and MP for Birkenhead said immigration from Europe was the main reason that millions of people were struggling to find jobs in the recession.
Mr Frank Field said it was going to be increasingly difficult for the jobless in British to find work while the market was flooded with over qualified people from Europe.
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A ministry of defence assistant has been found guilty of defrauding her office to the tune of £45000 on her own expenses (22 May 2012)
A personal assistant at the Ministry of Defence who took advantage of a lax accounting system and embezzled £45,000 to sign off her own expenses was jailed for six months for fraudulent expenses claims.
Helen Baggaley, 32, siphoned off thousands of pounds claimed as fake travel and continuation claims and using the cash on her two year spending spree.
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A case of unfair dismissal by a betting manager was dismissed by the Birmingham Employment Tribunal as he could not attend the hearing. (22 May 2012)
Christopher Davis of Lower Gomal, who was based at the Betfred betting shop at Sedgley, and after changes due made due to the Sunday opening laws he was said to have been transferred to the Bilston branch for which he initially accused the management of malice and victimisation.
He was dismissed subsequently and later made compensation claims for victimisation and unfair dismissal against the Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Ltd, trading as Betfred.
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The UK Border Agency is being challenged in the high court for false imprisonment, by victims of torture, in breach of Home Office’s own rule (22 May 2012)
There is a rule which says that torture victims should not be locked up except under exceptional circumstances.
Medical Justice a network of asylum detainees and doctors has based its findings that torture victims were being routinely held in immigration detention centres in breach of the Home Office’s own rules after going through a dossier of 50 cases.
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Male victims of domestic violence in high risk group are being provided with services funded by the Nottinghamshire county council (21 May 2012)
Though in minority, the high risk male victims of domestic violence are being provided with services funded by the Nottinghamshire County Council.
The authority provides £15,000 a year to Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum for its work with high-risk male victims, constituting of three per cent of all high-risk victims.
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In Britain cost of childcare is highest compared to any developed country with middle class parents finding it beyond their reach a study reveals (21 May 2012)
According to a research among all the developed nations UK is the most expensive for child care with middle class families finding it beyond their reach as parents are forced to pay higher nursery fees than most other developed nations.
According to the report published by the liberal think-tank CentreForum, parents are spending around a quarter of annual income on childcare for under-fives, more than almost any other developed nation, it was revealed.
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Impeccable, talented and creative musician but jailed for collecting indecent photographs of children (21 May 2012)
A talented pianist and creative composer had his career in tatters when he was jailed for six months for making pornographic images on his home computer.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard how former musical director and vocal coach Marcus Marriott had taught children at two Bournemouth-based theatre schools before being arrested on September 20 last year.
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A charity for child refugees has warned that the practice of children being held in detention centres along with adults exposing them to serious consequences (21 May 2012)
A report released by the charity Refugee Council has raised concerns that despite government’s assurances almost two years back to end the age disputed cases for the purposes of immigration the number of age dispute cases were still raising.
Child refugees were still being locked up by the immigration service which wrongly classified them as adults, the new report claimed.
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Newham Council has initiated to licence all private landlords in little Ilford and look forward to extend it to other boroughs to check unscrupulous landlords (18 May 2012)
Newham Council has announced that all the 257 private rented properties in the little Ilford ward have been registered reaching a key milestone in its bid to license all private landlords in the London borough.
The ward, which has been officially declared a Neighbourhood Improvement Zone (NIZ) was seen as the right place to start with by the council. It would like to extend the scheme to cover the whole of Newham making it the first borough in the country to license all private landlords.
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Without access to legal advice refugee migrant children were facing violations to their entitled rights of a fair justice says a report (18 May 2012)
A research by the Coram Children’s Legal Centre has said that the professionals working with refugee migrant children were struggling to access legal advice on behalf of young clients.
According to the ‘Navigating the System’ report, 59 per cent of professionals said their task to get legal representatives to refer children’s cases was becoming very difficult.
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The Criminal Bar Association should prepare to strike against the cuts in fees and legal aid reform the head of the association is to say (18 May 2012)
Disappointed due to the repeated freezing of criminal fees by the successive governments including the current government, the head of the Criminal Bar Association is to raise the spectre of strike action by the criminal barristers across England and Wales in protest at cuts in fees and legal aid reform.
In a belligerent speech, Max Hill QC, was to accuse politicians of "duplicity" signalling a significant souring of the relationship between the legal community and the coalition government.
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Estimated costs to raise a first child by parents is less than half of what it would actually cost a report says (17 May 2012)
The parents who are in the belief that to bring up their first child it would only cost just over £73,000 are in for a shock if HSBC’s reports is anything to be believed. It has stated that it would cost more than double of that £165,648. Read more...
Justice done to Sam Hallam after having served 7 of his 12 year sentence in prison for a wrongful conviction (17 May 2012)
Sam Hallam, 24, who was jailed for a murder case spent seven years behind the bars before he was released yesterday from the prison after a court ruled that he was the victim of ‘miscarriage of justice.
He was supported by his family and friends who had protested his innocence saying that on the fateful day he was playing football with his friends deliberately to avoid trouble he sensed was already in the air that evening
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With chaos reigning in eurozone the effects are being felt in financial market of Britain. (17 May 2012)
The Bank of England has issued warning to homeowners saying they have to be prepared for a sharp increase in the cost of mortgages. There are 11.2 million mortgage holders in Britain who would be put to bitter test.
The eurozone crisis was driving up the cost of borrowing for high street lenders in the UK and to restore their profit margins the lenders were passing on the cost to the borrowers.
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£1 damages to a deported Jamaican convicted criminal who claimed he was detained illegally when in UK (16 May 2012)
A Jamaican man who was deported two years ago continued to fight the case through High Court and Court of Appeal claiming that he was detained illegally.
Judges have now ruled that part of the time he was locked up was technically unlawful because there was a failure to carry out monthly reviews of his custody despite the fact that it would not have changed his status to remain behind the bars
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Workers taking fewer sick leave in fear of losing their jobs (16 May 2012)
The Office for National Statistics said that workers were on average taking lesser sick leaves with the figures touching a record low since records began in 1993.
Recession was playing its part with the workers too scared about losing their jobs and even skipped taking time off when they were sick an official figure by the ONS has revealed.
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More than 100 foreign criminals are being released in the streets of Britain every month instead of being deported due to slow judicial process and Human Rights act (16 May 2012)
There are more than 3,900 overseas convicts who have been enlarged on bail into the community with the prospect of many, re-offending with 817 of them at large for more than five years.
More than 100 overseas offenders who should be deported are being released on to the Britain’s streets every month to protect their human rights.
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An unwanted operation on a retired paramedic has left him partially blinded and needing round the clock care has been awarded more than £1million. (16 May 2012)
John Tunney, 63, suffering a massive brain haemorrhage due to a tumor in his brain was operated upon and the surgeons removed healthy tissue instead of the tumour.
The tumor which was found to be benign in a blood test reports revealed that it could have been treated with tablets. The reports were not checked before the operation was conducted.
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The Institute of Chartered Accountants has warned that stripping middle-class families of child benefit will be a disaster (15 May 2012)
The Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales has found serious flaws in the plan to cut child benefit to families with a high earning partner. The ICA told the Treasury that the controversial plan was in flawed in principle and practice.
The confidential report seen by The Daily Telegraph had ICA urging ministers to rethink the plans when the Finance Bill would be coming for vote by MPs later this month.
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Income inequalities spanning a decade between 1997 and 2007 had caused financial crisis in Britain largely due to lower income groups who lived beyond their means (15 May 2012)
The financial crisis ailing Britain has catapulted due to a surge in borrowing by poor households driven by rising inequality according to a published study.
The report, prepared for the Resolution Foundation think-tank by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), found that the whole of UK had been living beyond its means during the boom years which had let to the crash. The tendency was most defined among those with the lowest incomes.
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A couple have been told to stop letting their backyard garage to tenants’ (15 May 2012)
Steven and Jane Peters of 28 Palmerstone Road, Earley in Berkshire have been told to stop letting their garage in their back yard to tenants.
The couple were now appealing against the planning enforcement notice, issued by Wokingham Borough Council, in response to the unauthorised development.
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Employment opportunities in Britain go abegging as business try to establish offshore offices for lack of suitable manpower (14 May 2012)
The online supermarket Ocado has planned to employ overseas workers basically from the Central European country to fill its new technical office it was opening in England.
Ocado has said that there was not enough IT talent in the UK hence was turning to Poland to fill the gap.
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EU has taken a case to the European Court of Justice representing British expats who have been wrongfully charged large amount in Inheritance taxes for properties in Spain (14 May 2012)
British expats who are being wrongly charged inheritance tax (IHT) on their Spanish properties are planning to take up legal action to reclaim the charges. Read more...
The UK Border Agency is detaining children in (degrading and disgraceful) conditions at Heathrow, according to an official watchdog. (14 May 2012)
According to the official watchdog the Heathrow Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), children are being held in small cramped rooms at the airport for hours most often sharing space with adults who they are not related to.
The IMB said that children of all ages were being detained at the airport for immigration purposes almost every day at times kept even overnight. They were held in rooms that were small, stuffy without any natural light. There was no access to the open air, no sleeping accommodation and only hand basins for washing.
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Arrests and removal of foreign offenders brings the crime rate down in Sussex County (11 May 2012)
The arrest and removal of illegal Eastern European immigrants has seen a drop in Chichester city-centre crime, district councillors were told.
Chief Inspector Rachel Bacon told the district’s overview and scrutiny committee that 12 Eastern European men, aged between 25 and 50, were identified in the city centre who had no right to be in UK. Nine of them were deported, with another three on their way shortly.
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A driver who fed a ailing dog with a lamb bone and sacked over it gets a tribunal ruling for unfair dismissal (11 May 2012)
An employment tribunal judge has ruled that property tycoon Raymond Mould, who dismissed his driver for feeding his ailing dog with a piece of leftover lamb, had not acted reasonably.
The 60 year old driver Ivor James, who also worked as a handyman to his boss won a claim for unfair dismissal.
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A medical diagnosis which went wrong has left a critically acclaimed British composer wheelchair bound for life (10 May 2012)
Andrew Downes, a critically acclaimed British composer has been left wheelchair bound after a hospital bungled his diagnosis.
Andrew Downes, from Birmingham, has won his negligence case against The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.
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Half a million in prize money and still committing benefit fraud (10 May 2012)
Feeling lucky six years ago Hayley Tarry, 31, won more than £512,000 on the Euro Millions draw when she bought a ticket on a whim.
But her money didn’t last long. Unable to tighten her belt she cheated £10,000 in benefits after she blew all her winnings on lavish gifts for family and friends and investing in property and paying off debts the magistrates court heard.
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Home owners hoping for a windfall by letting during Olympics have been warned to comply with fire safety laws (10 May 2012)
Home-owners letting their property during the Olympic Games were being warned that they need to comply with fire safety laws if they let out their property during this summer’s Olympic Games. Read more...
Chris Grayling the employment minister is to promise a cut red tape in half in coming years to encourage businesses from going abroad (2 May 2012)
With the fears that businesses would move abroad because of the red tape involved the employment minister Chris Grayling will promise to cut red tape in half over the next few years. Read more...
A lap dancer at Stringfellows was an employee and entitled to claim unfair dismissal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled. (2 May 2012)
A lap dancer at Stringfellows club which claimed, she was only self-employed and that her contract was void for illegality on grounds of her falsely representing her income in tax returns and in an application for child tax credit has been rejected by a tribunal. Read more...
A manager who was kidnapped while working on an offshore rig is claiming damages for trauma suffered as a victim of kidnapping (2 May 2012)
AN OFFSHORE instillation manager, who was kidnapped at gunpoint in the Niger Delta five years ago, is suing his former employers for £250,000 for the trauma he said he suffered during his seven-day ordeal.
Gordon Gray, from Crieff, Perthshire, was working as the installation manager on the Bulford Dolphin drilling rig when he was kidnapped by armed rebels in March 2007.
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Premium payments are discretionary and not contractual a tribunal rules (2 May 2012)
Boots pharmacists have won a case with their employer over a 25 per cent cut in Sunday premium payments.
An employment tribunal has ruled that the payments which were held back by the Pharma Company Boots, was unlawful as it was discretionary rather than contractual in nature.
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ECHR has blocked more attempts by Britain to deport overseas offenders and terror suspects in recent years (2 May 2012)
An official figure has shown that the European Court of Human Rights had frustrated more deportations planned by Britain than any other country.
Abu Qatada, the radical cleric was also not allowed to be deported to Jordan under the controversial “Rule 39” procedure which doubted that evidence obtained under torture may be used against him.
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A patriarch dumps his son and leaves all his wealth to a young girl who is no way related to him (2 May 2012)
A retired dairy farmer who was not happy with his son’s attitude towards him has disinherited him of £230,000 fortune leaving it to a young woman who was un-related to him.
Raymond Spry, 74, deliberately deprived his son as his mechanic son had discarded the family surname and changed it to Richard Thomas the judges heard.
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We must act together to fight exploitation and human trafficking in tourism, say UN and international partners (1 May 2012)
Taking a firm stand against human trafficking, especially child trafficking, in the tourism sector, the heads of two United Nations bodies pledged to stamp out the hidden curse through joint efforts. Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), also called for concerted global action at every level of society. Read more...
In an incident of distraction burglary an old woman suffering dementia is targeted by a thief (1 May 2012)
An elderly woman was targeted by distraction burglary at her home on Friday. The offence took place between 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. at a terraced house on Grane Road, Haslingden, near the courtyard industrial unit. Read more...
The government admits that the continuous efforts put by the government in trying to deport Abu Qatada has cost taxpayer around £1million (1 May 2012)
The efforts by the government to deport radical cleric Abu Qatada, time and again, has cost the taxpayer nearly £1million in legal fees the government sources have confirmed. Read more...
A judge who filed a libel suit has won a substantial sum as damages against a news paper (1 May 2012)
A report published as an article in the Belfast Telegraph in October 2010 concerning the approach of a Judge to a case he had heard has led the judge to sue the paper resulting in substantial damages and an apology from the newspaper. Read more...
More than million home owners are to find their mortgage payments rise with the revised rates coming into effect from today (1 May 2012)
From today more than a million home owners will see the cost of their mortgage payments rise. Most of the affected would be the customers of Halifax who could be paying around £200 extra per annum after the recent hike in lending rates announced by lenders. Read more...
Court orders home secretary to bring back a deported asylum seeker who was deported despite having orders from court to prevent his removal (1 May 2012)
A Turkish national who was deported despite a court order preventing his removal has been sought to be brought back by the court in an order calling on the Home Secretary to find and bring back the Turkish national and investigate UK Border Agency conduct in the matter. Read more...