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Cambridge Community Safety Partnership March 2011
I observed a meeting of Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership on the 11th of March 2011. The group sets the city wide policing priorities and holds the police to account for their performance against the priorities set. At the partnership’s February meeting I complained that it had taken the key decision of selecting the priorities for […]
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A Day in the Cambridge Magistrates Court
Cambridge Magistrates’ Court On Monday the 7th of March 2011 I spent the day observing two of the magistrates courts sitting in Cambridge. I went along primarily to see the students sprayed with “Pava” by police officers within Kings College at their first court appearance. Having seen a video showing the police use of the […]
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Citizen Journalist Banned from Taking Notes in Court
Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Castle ward in Cambridge, and feminist activist, has been acting as a citizen journalist over the last two days reporting via Twitter on the progress of a court case from Guildford Crown Court. According to a local radio station’s summary of what’s going on 28-year-old, Hannah Morris of […]
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Reforming UK Extradition Arrangements
Members of the public can have their say on a review into the UK’s extradition arrangements. The Home Office is currently inviting members of the public to have their say on a review into the UK’s extradition arrangements. The closing date was 31st December 2010, but it has now, almost silently, been extended to the […]
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Observing History – Heathrow Robbery Trial Starts Without Jury
Observing History – Heathrow Robbery Trial Starts Without Jury Supporters of the defendants in the UK’s first modern criminal trial where a jury has been denied placed banners on the railings outside the Royal Courts of Justice. This morning I went to the Royal Courts of Justice to personally witness the start of the first […]
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First Modern Criminal Trial Without Jury Set for January 12th 2010
The Royal Courts of Justice. The country’s great cathedral of justice is reduced to a mere reminder of a past era by the government’s erosion of the right to trial by jury. (Photo credit: antmoose) The first criminal trial without a jury in modern times is to begin on Tuesday the 12th of January 2009. […]
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Cambridgeshire Police Not to Prosecute In Case of Rottweiller Seriously Injuring Cambridge Postman
Since the day of the awful attack on a postman by dangerous rottweilers in Gazeley Lane, Trumpington, Cambridge in December 2008 the police have been hung up on the issue of weather the attack occurred on a public road or not. At first the police said they were investigating if the attack was on a […]
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Opening up the Family Courts
In September 2008 I responded to a consultation entitled Confidence and confidentiality: openness in family courts – a new approach run by the Ministry of Justice. I agreed with the following main points: The current court rules on disclosure need to be amended to allow for wider disclosure of information in cases involving children and […]