On 6 June 2016 the Serious Fraud Office adopted new internal guidance on the process for inviting and handling requests for individuals interviewed under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 to be accompanied by a lawyer. Read more...
New research by NHS Digital shows that one in three adults (37%) aged 16-74 with conditions such as anxiety or depression who were surveyed in England were accessing mental health treatment in 2014. Read more...
The Environment Agency has prosecuted two anglers from London, who were caught fishing without a rod licence. Read more...
Islington Council and police force have prosecuted a local trader after he was found to be in possession of counterfeit tobacco, which he was planning to sell. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Bradford-based self-employed trader for safety breaches, after poor scaffolding arrangements at a domestic property put himself and others at risk. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Bolton-based scrapyard featured in a recent BBC documentary series, after an employee suffered facial injuries at work.
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City Hall in London has held its first public meeting in a series of regular public meetings to hold the Metropolitan Police Service and criminal justice partners to account.
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The Welsh government is warning landlords in Wales that they have just eight weeks left to register themselves and their properties with Rent Smart Wales. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said that the root cause of the Smiler rollercoaster collision at Alton Towers was “a lack of detailed, robust arrangements” for making safety critical decisions. Read more...
Newham Council in east London has installed state-of-the-art video cameras as part of its motoring campaign Keep Newham Moving. Read more...
Rotherham Council has successfully prosecuted a local man for Blue Badge fraud – the 100th Blue Badge prosecution the council has brought.
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The Welsh government has announced the launch of a universal child health programme. Read more...
On 7th August 2006, the President of Brazil put into force the Federal Brazilian Law 11340, known as the Law Maria da Penha, that increased the punishment for domestic violence abuses against women. Read more...
The Parole Board has announced trials of different approaches to reduce the time prisoners have to wait for an oral hearing. Read more...
Wigan Council^s Trading Standards department has prosecuted a Wigan shopkeeper, after a raid in March 2016 uncovered large quantities of illegal cigarettes and tobacco. Read more...
Mental health charity Mind has responded to a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) about the need for a whole-government approach to mental health services. Read more...
Environmental Health officers at Tower Hamlets Borough Council have prosecuted a café for breaches of food hygiene regulations following a rodent infestation. Read more...
Chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, Paul Farmer, has responded to data obtained by MP Norman Lamb and shared with the BBC, which highlight that the use of physical restraint has increased in many mental health trusts in England. Read more...
The government is launching a new road safety campaign today (26/09/16), urging cyclists in London and Manchester to “hang back” from lorries, in an attempt to reduce the number of crashes and improve cycling safety. Read more...
Mental health charity Mind has said that many Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are reducing the amount they are spending on mental health services. Read more...
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has re-admitted 13 previously suspended police forces to the best use of stop and search scheme. Read more...
Bath and North East Somerset Council has prosecuted a trader for 13 offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Read more...
The Environment Agency has prosecuted a composting company which caused air pollution next to a research centre in Cambridgeshire. Read more...
City of Wolverhampton Council has announced that recent raids in the city have netted £150,000-worth of illegal tobacco and illicit alcohol. Read more...
A supermarket found to have a mouse infestation has been fined £20,000, after Sandwell Council in the West Midlands took legal action against the company. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a company in Somerset, following the death of a worker who fell through a factory roof skylight. Read more...
Wirral Council has announced a £2 million investment in children’s services to tackle issues identified in the latest Ofsted inspection. Read more...
The Prime Minister has pledged that the UK will tackle some of the drivers of mass migration, with new humanitarian funding to help address poverty, insecurity and conflict. Read more...
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has prosecuted nine people for environmental offences, including fly-tipping, littering and failing to make sure waste is disposed of legally. Read more...
The Royal Borough of Greenwich has announced that it will be launching a week of activities in October, as part of the national Hate Crime Awareness Week campaign. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Surrey construction company, after a contractor was run over on a large site in Wokingham. Read more...
The director of a building company has been disqualified for seven years for VAT under-declaration. Read more...
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced that more than 56,000 households have been helped to purchase a home through the government’s revitalised Right to Buy scheme since 2012. Read more...
The Home Secretary Amber Rudd has discussed counter-terrorism, security and migration with Germany^s Interior Minister Dr. Thomas de Maizière in Berlin. Read more...
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has announced that Chief Constable Simon Byrne MA QPM has been appointed to the council as a non-judicial member. Read more...
Welsh Assembly Communities and Children’s Secretary Carl Sargeant has launched a new campaign to give parents an opportunity to highlight childcare issues that are important to them. Read more...
The High Court has wound up five companies involved in a fraudulent South American gold mines investment scheme. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a manufacturing company, after a worker was crushed to death by falling machinery. Read more...
First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones has announced the Welsh government’s five-year plan, Taking Wales Forward – which will include removing barriers to employment for parents by creating “the most generous childcare offer anywhere in the UK”. Read more...
British Government has recently announced an increase of immigration fees with the Law Society rejecting the proposal of ‘punitive rises’ which may lead to a ‘huge setback’ for justice. Read more...
The Welsh Assembly (WA) has announced an EU-backed programme to help 6,000 people recovering from substance misuse and mental health conditions into work. Read more...
Theresa May has called for international action to eradicate modern slavery worldwide and tackle human trafficking. Read more...
The owner of a Hampshire waste facility has been jailed after the Environment Agency prosecuted him for repeat offences. Read more...
Cornwall Council has prosecuted the owner of a smallholding in Truro for offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and The Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations 2007. Read more...
Cambridge City Council is proposing to spend £719,363 to prevent people becoming homeless – and will discuss the plan at the Council’s Housing Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 22 September. Read more...
The Home Office has announced that £1 million is to be invested in a new crime fighting facility working across northeast England, bringing law enforcement agencies together under one roof. Read more...
The director of a coloured diamonds investments company has been disqualified for 12 years, after the company failed to supply any diamonds to investors. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Kent company, after a worker suffered life threatening injuries when a drum he was working on exploded. Read more...
A Surrey man who was prosecuted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been jailed for 12 months, after being convicted on charges of selling potentially dangerous unlicensed medicines to treat serious conditions. Read more...
The High Court has imposed an 11-year bankruptcy Restrictions Order on a former assistant accountant for misappropriation of funds. Read more...
The Home Office has announced financial support for organisations working towards tackling extremism. Read more...
Essex County Council is to invest a record £85 million in creating new special school places across Essex, with a proposed 400 new places being created. Read more...
Cambridge City Council has published proposals to review the city’s housing services, as part of a change programme to further improve efficiency and target resources at those in greatest need, as well as making provision for savings. Read more...
Weymouth and Portsmouth Borough Council has prosecuted a landlord for managing a property found to be unsafe and in need of repair. Read more...
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) says that the government needs to ensure the UK has access to a skilled workforce post Brexit – or risk a crisis in the construction industry. Read more...
Cornwall Council has prosecuted the owner of a Penzance shop, after a heavy metal sign disconnected itself from the shopfront and fell onto a child in a pushchair. Read more...
Bradford Council is encouraging more people to talk about their anxieties and worries – and to seek help if they need to – as a key part of efforts to cut suicide rates in Bradford. Read more...
City of London Police have charged a man previously wanted in connection with fraud offences. Read more...
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has prosecuted a father and son for fisheries offences, which included exceeding their monthly catch limit and failing to maintain accurate records. Read more...
Islington Council in north London has prosecuted an estate agent for false advertising, after a Sold board was erected on a property one year after it was first sold. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted an engineering company, after a worker was injured while operating a drilling machine. Read more...
Mother-of-three, Mrs Deborah O’Hara suffered from a cancerous tumour and underwent surgery on 10 June 2015 at University Hospital Coventry. During the procedure she had her kidney removed and mistakenly, blood supply from two arteries was cut off. Two days after her surgery she died and the O’Hara family were not told about the hospital’s surgical mistake. Read more...
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Courts & Tribunals Service have announced that vulnerable victims and witnesses will no longer have to appear in court under new plans to roll out pre-trial evidence sessions. Read more...
A former deputy director of the Security Industry Authority (SIA) has been given a suspended jail sentence, after she defrauded the government body out of more than £37,000 for travel allowance payments to which she was not entitled. Read more...
The government has announced that supported housing will continue to be exempt from the Local Housing Allowance cap until 2019. Read more...
Public Health England (PHE) is warning those who have had body piercings in recent months to stop using a product which may be linked to a higher risk of infection. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted St Edmunds School Canterbury for safety failings, after a seven-year-old boy nearly drowned while on a summer camp with the school. Read more...
A new report published by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows that the conviction rate for rape, sexual offences and domestic abuse prosecutions in the northwest has improved. Read more...
Sandwell Council in the West Midlands has refurbished its 5,000th council home as part of a multimillion-pound investment programme. Read more...
An Oldham Councillor has been disqualified as a director after an investigation found he had allowed his company to employ illegal workers. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Hertfordshire bakery for safety failings which could have put workers at risk. Read more...
Pape Souare, a Premier League Crystal Palace football player, was airlifted to hospital last night after being trapped in the wreckage of a horrific motorway crash near Heathrow. As reported by London Fire Brigade, crews used specialist cutting equipment to free the trapped man and he was carried by the London’s Air Ambulance to the Royal London Hospital’s major trauma unit in Whitechapel with injuries to his jaw and thigh. However, his condition was said not to be life-threatening. Read more...
The British Dental Association (BDA) says that NHS charges are driving patients with dental problems to overstretched GPs – and could soon overtake government funding as the principle source of revenue for NHS dentistry.
Analysis from the BDA has found that NHS charges could help push around 600,000 dental patients to GPs – the BDA estimates these appointments cost the NHS over £26 million a year. Read more...
An insolvency practitioner in Wales has been handed a two-year prison sentence as well as being disqualified from being a director, after pleading guilty to seven counts of fraud, two counts of theft and one count of false accounting at Cardiff Crown Court. Read more...
A man who raped a woman in her office in the early hours of the morning as she slept has received a six-year jail sentence at the Old Bailey. Read more...
A tenant of Sheffield City Council has narrowly avoided eviction, after the council took action when her son was convicted of drug offences which took place at her home. Read more...
Ofsted has rated Ealing Children’s Services in the top 10% of local authorities (LAs) in England, under its tougher new inspection regime. Read more...
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced that the first housing association tenants have become homeowners under the new Voluntary Right to Buy scheme. Read more...
Lincolnshire Trading Standards is warning consumers to do their research when buying second-hand cars, after receiving 964 calls from consumers over second-hand cars in 2015-2016. Read more...
Councillors in Peterborough are to discuss a recommendation to appoint a charitable organisation to operate the council’s new fostering and adoption service. Read more...
Trafford Council has prosecuted a 51-year-old woman for benefit fraud, after she claimed Housing Benefit she was not entitled to. Read more...
The Welsh Assembly has set out new plans to tackle substance misuse, which will mean more training for health professionals dealing with new psychoactive substances – as well as more surveillance work to understand the scale and nature of performance enhancing drug use. Read more...
Public Health England’s Be Clear on Cancer roadshow is to visit Birkenhead in the Wirral on 16 and 17 September, to raise awareness of respiratory illness and lung cancer. Read more...
Cornwall emergency services are combining to provide an improved response to medical emergencies, with four qualified on call firefighters from St Ives Community Fire Station providing a co-response to medical emergencies, in partnership with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT). Read more...
Westminster City Council has introduced a new “subterranean squad” of basement “nuisance busters” to act as a contact point for residents suffering from noise intrusion caused by basement developments. Read more...
The director of a company which supplied school meals has been disqualified for four years, after an inspection of company premises revealed serious breaches of food hygiene regulations. Read more...
A Nottingham landlord has been fined £29,000, after a rental property on the Alfreton Road was found to be in a filthy and verminous condition, with a rat infestation. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a bakery company based in Hertfordshire for safety failings. Read more...
East Midlands Councils have pledged 950 places for Syrian refugees in more than 21 local authority areas in the East Midlands, for the duration of the government programme to accept 20,000 refugees from camps along the Syrian border. Read more...
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has given the green light to up to 10,000 new homes in Barking – as many as 50% of which could be affordable. Read more...
Hounslow Council has prosecuted the two joint landlords of a bedsit property in Hounslow, Greater London for poor housing conditions and running an unlicensed house in multiple occupation (HMO). Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Wirral-based company, after an installation engineer sustained injuries to his arm in machinery.
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The directors of a care home company have been disqualified, after an Insolvency Service investigation found they had stolen money from residents. Read more...
A company director from Essex has been disqualified for 12 years, after an Insolvency Service investigation and Trading Standards found that his company had sold potentially toxic cancer treatment. Read more...
Recognised as a leading lawyer in Crime by Chambers UK 2014 edition, Duncan Lewis Crime Director Rubin Italia was interviewed by Nick Ferrari’s Breakfast Show on LBC radio as an independent legal expert on 7th September about the sentence to over five years in prison against UK Preacher Anjem Choudary, convicted for supporting terrorism and radicalizing young Muslims across Europe. Read more...
A Milton Keynes-based engineering company has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after a worker suffered serious injuries to his leg. Read more...
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has announced that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is to sell off a further 13 sites to build thousands of new homes and create a more effective and efficient Defence estate. Read more...
An initial investigation by the Insolvency Service – and a full criminal investigation and Prosecution by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – has resulted in a former City trader being served with a £2 million Confiscation Order. Read more...
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that hospitals must help provide better information for private patients. Read more...
On 10 August 2016 the Court of Appeal handed down Judgment in the case of R (TH, ZA and MNK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 815 . Permission to appeal was refused, and it follows that the generic argument on the operation of the Detained Asylum Casework System advanced by the Appellants ends. The wider ramifications of this decision will have to be carefully considered in the light of individual case facts, but it will not necessarily prevent individuals from showing unfairness in terms of the application of rules 34 or 35, protected characteristics, prejudice or unlawful detention. Read more...
A Leicester man who appealed against a murder conviction under the law of joint enterprise has been convicted of manslaughter at Nottingham Crown Court. Read more...
The Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC MP has confirmed that witnesses providing certain evidence to the Undercover Policing Inquiry can do so without fear of being prosecuted. Read more...
Bath & North East Somerset Council has taken legal action against a landowner for failing to comply with a planning enforcement notice requiring the demolition of an unauthorised building on green belt land. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Bristol-based company, after a worker lost their arm when it was pulled into the rotating tail pulley of a conveyor belt. Read more...
The City of Wolverhampton Council is inviting the public and service users to offer their opinions on services for people at risk of domestic violence in Wolverhampton.
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Wolverhampton Council is offering training to organisations and individuals who may come into contact with someone at risk of suicide, as part of a range of activities taking place in Wolverhampton to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on Saturday (10/09/16). Read more...
Attorney General Jeremy Wright has told the Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime that the current system of limited corporate liability incentivises a company’s board to distance itself from the company’s operations. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a construction firm, after a worker was seriously injured when he fell off a roof during demolition work. Read more...
Birmingham City Council has prosecuted Mitchells & Butlers Retail Limited, after evidence of mouse activity was found throughout one of its Birmingham city centre pubs. Read more...
Sandwell Council in the West Midlands is stepping up its fight against tenancy and Right to Buy fraud, after it found that investigations by its counter-fraud team have saved the council millions of pounds. Read more...
Slough Borough Council has announced plans to set up two private housing companies to help meet the growing demand for good quality rental homes in the borough. Read more...
Researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have announced that a new blood test can detect when the most common form of breast cancer has become resistant to treatment. Read more...
The City of Wolverhampton Council has announced a series of activities to mark Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September. Read more...
Rotherham City Council has announced that children in care are to benefit from family-based placements as the preferred option, as the council seeks to make Rotherham a child-centred borough. Read more...
City of York Council has launched the start of the new 30 hours childcare pilot, as one of the first areas in England to offer 30 hours of free childcare support to parents from 1 September, so they can balance work with their family lives. Read more...
A woman who injured two passengers in an accident after she had taken laughing gas and decided to drive has been sentenced to 20 months in jail for causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Read more...
Gateshead Council has launched an initiative to counter anti-social behaviour (ASB) – including those who allow their dogs to foul pavements and persistent charity collectors. Read more...
Lincolnshire Council’s Trading Standards department has prosecuted a trader who supplied worn tyres to customers. Read more...
Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill has opened a new passport office in Durham. Read more...
Tower Hamlets Council is taking part in a countrywide anti-fraud data matching exercise. Read more...
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has taken action against a man who provided unregulated immigration advice to clients. Read more...
West Lancashire Borough Council has allocated funding of around £1.7 million to provide much-needed affordable homes for local people. Read more...
The Health and Safety executive (HSE) has prosecuted a company director, after a worker died from crush injuries in a loading accident. Read more...
Solihull Council in the West Midlands has been granted a borough-wide ban on motor vehicle racing, covering car-cruises and including motorbikes. Read more...
The charity Thames Reach is calling for more to be done to highlight and address the needs of rough sleepers with mental health conditions in London.
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Manchester City Council’s Environmental Crimes team has prosecuted a clinic for fly posting. Read more...
Kettering Borough Council has successfully prosecuted a tenant who falsely claimed to be homeless while owning two properties. Read more...
Many of us have taken to the internet to book our own flights and accommodation. We enjoy the benefits of flexibility and lower costs. Have we considered the disadvantages? One important and often over looked advantage of the Package Holiday is that you enjoy the benefit of Package Travel Regulations. Read more...
The Applicant was detained on remand in Germany pending his extradition to the United Kingdom, following the issue of a European Arrest Warrant. Both domestic and European law require that remand days in Germany are to count towards a criminal sentence in the United Kingdom – this issue was agreed upon between both parties. Read more...
A new government report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination has found that pregnant women and new mothers are still experiencing discrimination in the workplace.
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A lorry driver who collided with a young mother who died as a result has been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted an engineering company in Knowsley on Merseyside, after an employee was seriously injured when he was struck by a metal structure during a lifting process using a fork-lift truck. Read more...
Newcastle City Council has used sniffer dogs in a crackdown on illicit alcohol in seven shops in the city’s East End and West End areas. Read more...
South Bucks District Council has successfully prosecuted a couple, who failed to comply with a planning Enforcement Notice requiring the demolition of an unauthorised two-storey outbuilding. Read more...