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21 May 2021 / Theo Huckle KC
Issue: 7933 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus , Criminal
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Post Office postscript: what price justice?

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The PO cases bring into sharp relief serious failings & inaccessibility on both criminal & civil sides of our justice system, says Theo Huckle QC

In his comment piece here on 7 May, Jon Robins posed the question as to whether the Post Office (PO) scandal is just one example of miscarriage of justice in a system no longer fit for purpose (see ‘Post Office: far from the end of the road?’ NLJ 7 May 2021, p7). He queried in particular whether the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), established under s 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 in the aftermath of the 1970s miscarriage cases (Guildford Four; Birmingham Six; Maguire Seven; Judith Ward) and the ensuing Royal Commission on Criminal Justice report of July 1993, was fulfilling its intended function given the drastic reduction in its funding and, consequently, in the number of cases it referred to the Court of Appeal. Dr Robins referred to specific cases (Malkinson; Benquit) of convictions in

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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