Latest Cases

Sentence – Imprisonment. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that the offender's total sentence of 16 years' imprisonment for a 'campaign of rape' against three women had been unduly lenient. The court substituted a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment. 

European Union – Taxation. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 2(1)(b) and (c) of Council Directive (EC) 2008/7 (concerning indirect taxes) had to be interpreted as meaning that a PLS under Polish law should be regarded as a capital company within the meaning of that provision even if only some of its capital and members were able to satisfy the conditions laid down by that provision. 

Immigration – Appeal. The claimants sought judicial review of the defendant Secretary of State's decisions that returning them to Italy would not breach art 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and certifying their human rights claims as clearly unfounded. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the applications, held that there was no legitimate basis upon which a tribunal, properly directing itself, could reasonably conclude that the presumption that Italy would comply with its obligations under European Union and international law had been rebutted in relation either to asylum seekers or those who benefited from international protection, in particular, those who were vulnerable. 

Criminal law – Proceeds of crime. The Supreme Court, in allowing the prosecution's appeal, held that an arrangement between a fraudster (B), who had allegedly duped victims into buying into non-existent motor insurance, and the defendant, who had set up two bank accounts into which the victims had paid money, was capable of constituting an offence under s 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Accordingly, a ruling by a trial judge that the defendant had no case to answer, which had been upheld in the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, was erroneous. What rendered the property 'criminal property' in the present case was not the arrangement made between B and the defendant, but the fact that it had been obtained from the victims by deception. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The husband made applications in respect of an ancillary relief order and shared residence order. He had, unsuccessfully, made previous such applications. The Family Division dismissed his applications as the applications were without merit, sought to replicate matters that had previously been argued and resolved against him, and the new evidence he had produced took him nowhere. Further, an order would be made that any future applications he sought to make would be reserved to the President of the Family Division. 

Mortgage – Charge. The appeal was concerned with the interpretation of s 31 of the Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act 1987 (REDDA). The Privy Council held that a charge which a vendor created in favour of the respondent Real Estate Board, under s 31(4) of REDDA, was valid without its registration in the Companies Register. Further, s 31(5) of REDDA conferred the ranking on the charge and not on the sums secured by a more general charge which the authorised financial institution could prove to have been advanced to fund such construction and works. 

Power of attorney – Enduring power of attorney. The Court of Protection ordered that an enduring power of attorney (EPA) be revoked, pursuant to para 16(4)(g) of Sch 4 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, directed the Public Guardian to cancel its registration and appointed a panel deputy. The orders were made in circumstances where the court found that, when the first respondent attorney, JD, had applied to register the EPA, she had completed a form, in which she had stated that the attorneys had been appointed to act jointly and severally, and she had known that that statement was false. Further, both respondents were both unsuitable to be attorneys and deputies for property and affairs, because of the intense acrimony between them. 

Company – Compulsory winding up. The respondent company was insolvent and there were concerns that it had been involved in money laundering. Its principal creditors were its customers. The applicant Secretary of State had sought a compulsory winding up order in the public interest. At the hearing of the application to appoint a provisional liquidator, the Secretary of State invite the court to proceed immediately to the petition and to make a compulsory winding up order. The Chancery Division determined that it was an appropriate case for dispensing with advertisement of the petition, it was an appropriate case for accelerating the hearing of the petition and it was manifest that a winding up order in the public interest should be made. 

Compensation – Criminal injuries. The claimant sought judicial review of the decision of the defendant First-tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation) (the FTT) that the appropriate discount rate for future loss in his claim for criminal injuries compensation was 2.5%. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that, properly construed, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme meant that the discount rate should be whatever the rate happened to be in the civil courts at the time of assessment. As that was the discount rate determined by the Lord Chancellor, under s 1(1) of the Damages Act 1996, the FTT had rejected the claimant's arguments for substantially the right reasons. 

Housing – Homeless person. The claimant sought relief against two local housing authorities, alleging breach of their statutory duties to assess his children as being in need and to provide accommodation. The Administrative Court, declared that the first authority's failure to assess the needs of the claimant's children had been unlawful. Further, it declared that the second authority had breached its statutory duty by failing to give notice to the first authority that the family had been placed in its area, by having failed to make a lawful referral and by failing to secure that accommodation had been available of the claimant and his family in the interim.