Author Archives: David Janes

In sentencing Tommy Robinson to 18 months imprisonment for Contempt of Court (HM Solicitor General v Yaxley-Lennon 28th October 2024), Mr Justice Johnson took into account the appropriate sentence in criminal proceedings for equivalent conduct (see paragraph 42 of the judgment). By way of crosscheck he considered the Sentencing Council’s Guideline for breach of a […]

After all an innocent  defendant has  endured, the ordeal and ignomny of a criminal trial, the final rebuff of the criminal justice system is  that he will not recover his costs (save in limited circumstances to a paltry amount) out of central funds . After all the defendant has been through – not only the […]

I have written two previous articles concerning the statutory regime relating to Police Bail before charge (see my article ‘Revolutionary Changes to Police Bail’ and follow up). The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (“the Act”) has brought about further radical (if not revolutionary!) changes. Fundamentally, the presumption against bail has been withdrawn, so […]

I find it difficult to discern the logic or any rational explanation why there should be any substantial redaction or postponement of the Susan Gray report pending the outcome of the Met investigation, instigated on the eve of the proposed and long awaited publication of the report. The Met investigation may well lead to the […]

The elephant in the room concerning the Owen Paterson tribulations, which appears to have been barely mentioned, is surely the thorny issue of Parliamentary Privilege. The powers of Kathryn Stone OBE, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, derive from Parliament (see Rule 19 of the Code of Conduct, 1st August 2018, HC1471, Rule 18 of Code […]

In September 2017 I wrote an article ‘Revolutionary Changes to Police Bail’ (see Janes Solicitors website News and Opinion section). At the time I stated that although revolutionary, the changes brought about by the Policing and Crime Act 2017 had received scant media or public attention.    This would appear to still be very much […]

There has been plenty of both praise and condemnation of Lord Hain for his defiance of the Court injunction to name Sir Philip Green, invoking Parliamentary Privilege for this purpose. The criticism and condemnation of Lord Hain’s actions focus and concentrate on an assumed abuse of his right to invoke Parliamentary Privilege. I have not […]

An alternative defence perspective  The ENRC Court of Appeal Judgement clarifying the extent of litigation privilege has already received much praise and plaudits in particular from defence practitioners. The unequivocal ruling that the internal investigation commissioned by Decherts into the SFO allegations was covered by litigation privilege and therefore not disclosable to the SFO appears […]

The changes brought about to police bail by the Policing and Crime Act 2017 are revolutionary, but have received scant media or academic attention. David Janes considers the new provisions of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 in our Bail Guide here.