News
11th March 2010
Royal Marines Acquitted
Four Royal Marines were each acquitted of murder and manslaughter in the Crown Court at Winchester on the 18th February following a five week trial. The Offence was alleged to have been committed in a fight in a bar in Portsmouth in May 2009 and the trial concerned unusual medical evidence and issues of causation.
Two of the Defendants were represented by Nigel Lickley QC, Nicholas Rowland and Christopher Parker QC.
10th March 2010
POC Third Party Rights
AFG member Kerry Musgrave will speak at the national CPS Organised Crime Division conference being held at Wood Green today. Kerry is a leading member of 3PB's Asset Forfeiture Group. She will present a talk on the rights of third parties under the proceeds of crime legislation.
Recent reported cases of Kerry's include the Court of Appeal case of Stodgell, where their Lordships provided a helpful overview of ancillary relief in confiscation proceedings.
1st March 2010
Middle Temple
Chambers is very pleased to announce that Mr Graham Wood QC and been elected as a bencher to the Middle Temple.
26th February 2010
Unduly Lenient Sentence
Megan Topliss appeared on 3rd February in the Court of Appeal for an offender whose sentence the Attorney General sought to refer on the basis that it was unduly lenient. (AG ref. No. 99 of 2009 sub nom R v B (2010)). The Attorney General was represented by Queen's Counsel. The offender had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment suspended for two years for an offence of rape. He was 41 at the time of sentence and had committed the offence some 25 years earlier on his sister, when he had been 15 and she 13.
The Court held that the sentencing judge had been right to say the case was exceptional: a serious crime committed by a boy with devastating life-long effects on the victim. However, he had admitted his guilt 15 years earlier including to the family; and had continued to show genuine remorse, all in an attempt to assist her find closure. He had also matured into a man of exemplary character. Therefore, whilst the sentence was lenient, it was not unduly so: the reference was dismissed.
24th February 2010
'Proceeds of Crime' goes to press
The third edition of one of the leading textbooks on asset forfeiture "The Proceeds of Crime" by Trevor Millington OBE and 3PB member Mark Sutherland Williams is due to be published by Oxford University Press at the end of February 2010. The second edition proved to be a run away success, with sales in excess of 1000 copies.
The third edition features discussion of the recent case law, including coverage of the recent House of Lords and Court of Appeal decisions on confiscation. The book also provides commentary on restraint, receivership and the asset recovery provisions, together with condemnation and the restoration of goods. Included in the third edition is a Foreword by Lord Justice Toulson and legislative extracts from the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
22nd February 2010
CPS v C & Rooney
AFG deputy head, Paul O'Doherty, has seen his recent High Court matter of CPS v C & Rooney [2010] reported on Lawtel - the case concerned an application by the CPS to appoint a receiver to sell a property in part satisfaction of a confiscation order. The application was granted after the court found that the defendant was the true owner in equity of the property and purported transfers of ownership by him were a sham. Paul acted for the CPS in the matter.
Paul's practice covers:
- advising on the scope and extent of restraint and receivership proceedings.
- advising in relation to rights of third parties, including piercing the corporate veil.
- variation and discharge of restraint and receivership orders.
- contempt proceedings.
- related company law, fraud and insolvency issues.
Paul is also a member of the Law Society Working Group on money laundering. The working group is looking at proposals for the re-drafting of the Money Laundering provisions in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
For more details, see Paul's profile.
18th February 2010
Wiltshire Court Training Day
Hayley Griffiths and Elizabeth Hepworth from the 3PB Family Care Team participated in a court training day on behalf of the Wiltshire Family Justice Council. The seminar was aimed at training new social workers from the Swindon and Wiltshire areas in relation to giving evidence, which comprised of group preparatory work and a mock Interim Care Order hearing. All the social workers had a role to play including two on the bench making the final decision.
18th February 2010
Chancery law update – forfeiture of fiduciary remuneration
Seb Oram has had a paper published in the February edition of the Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, which analyses the legal basis of claims to recover remuneration from fiduciaries after their breach of duty. The paper considers the current law on forfeiture of fiduciary fees in light of recent authority, including Imageview Management Ltd v. Jack [2009] 2 All ER 666 in which Seb was instructed in the Court of Appeal proceedings. It also addresses the practical implications of the doctrine – under which a fiduciary will in certain circumstances become disentitled by virtue of his breach of duty from claiming remuneration from his principal – for fiduciaries, agents and their advisers.
For more information please contact Paul Adams.
17th February 2010
Re M goes to Court of Appeal
The case of Re M went to the Court of Appeal for a 3 day hearing. After a first instance public law care hearing of some 20 days, with Richard Tyson leading Elisabeth Hudson for the Local Authority, the case went to the Court of Appeal. The case report, re M [2010] EWCA Civ 67, does not do justice to the dramatic facts and interesting personalities involved, but does contain very complimentary remarks about the presentation of the Local Authority's case on appeal.
12th February 2010
POCLA Confiscation Forum
3PB AFG members, Rupert Jones and Mark Sutherland Williams, were two of the facilitators at the annual POCLA Confiscation Forum in central London. MSW chaired a discussion on benefit in confiscation hearings and Rupert was one of the speakers discussing the rights of spouses and third parties in confiscation.
5th February 2010
Mota Singh knighted
His Honour Judge Mota Singh was knighted in the New Year Honours List. Mota Singh, former member of 3PB before being elevated to the Circuit bench as His Honour Judge Mota Singh QC, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, receiving the highest civilian honour for his services to the Administration of Justice, Community Relations and to the Voluntary Sector.
A Ramgarhia Sikh, 79-year-old Mota Singh was raised and educated in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1954, he moved to England to compete the remaining part of his studies of law. He joined the English bar in 1967 and within months developed a successful practice in civil law.
He will now be known as Sir Mota Singh.
26th January 2010
RCPO v Woolley Review
Rupert Jones's recent Court of Appeal case of RCPO v Woolley has been reported on Lawtel and Westlaw. The case, which involved a judicial review from Birmingham Magistrates' Court focussed on Revenue and Customs application for judicial review of a decision of the defendant magistrates' court to adjourn confiscation enforcement proceedings in a matter where the Extradition Act applied. The Court upheld Revenue and Customs complaint and found that there was no abuse of process involved in proceedings to enforce the default term, notwithstanding the misunderstanding of the position by the Swiss authorities. Rupert, who is a leading member of chambers' Asset Forfeiture Group, appeared as junior counsel for the RCPO.
13th January 2010
Jamal Demachkie, an expert panellist
Jamal Demachkie has appeared as an expert panellist for 24housing magazine, in an article on the top 10 events that have shaped social housing in the last 60 years. A copy of the article can be found on the 24dash.com web site.
11th January 2010
James Chegwidden POCLA article
Asset Forfeiture Group member, James Chegwidden, has had his article on whether current UK asset forfeiture law strikes the correct balance between the interests of the general public and the rights of the defendant published on the Proceeds of Crime Lawyers Association website. A full version of James' article may be found at: http://www.pocla.com/pdf/James-Chedwiggen-POCLA-essay-competition.pdf.
16th December 2009
R v Simon Price Appeal
Charlotte Hadfield's and Mark Sutherland Williams' Court of Appeal case of Regina v Simon Price was reported yesterday on Lawtel. The case, which involved numerous arguments on the validity of a Crown Court imposed confiscation order, centred on whether serving the sentence for the substantive offence and the imposition of a default term in relation to confiscation offended against the principle of totality in sentencing.
MSW and Charlotte represented the Respondent, the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office, in the matter. In dismissing all of the Appellant's grounds, the court confirmed the Court of Appeal decision in R v Smith, which had been at odds with an earlier Court of Appeal authority, R v Cukovic.
The case marks the end of another successful year for the AFG team at 3PB.