R v Ashley Gill-Webb - Bottle thrown during Olympics - Usain Bolt

Updated 4th February - with Sentencing remarks

The London Olympic Games 5th August 2012.  Eight men, including Usain Bolt, are about to run the race of their lives - the men's 100m final.  A bottle is thrown from the crowd of spectators on to the track and, in the event, lands behind the runners who are approaching the starting blocks.  The man who threw the bottle was Ashley Gill-Webb.  Here is one newspaper's report of the event.

The judiciary website has published the judgment (dated 11th January 2013) of District Judge Ashworth in which Ashley Gill-Webb was found guilty of offences under the Public Order Act 1986 section 4A and section 5.  The two alternative offences arose from the same incident.

The sentencing remarks deal clearly with the issue in the case, namely Gill-Webb's mental state at the time.  Gill-Webb accepted that his behaviour was abusive and disorderly in that he shouted comments at Usain Bolt and threw a bottle on to the track causing harassment alarm and distress to spectators nearby.  The sole question for the judge to decide was Gill-Webb's mental state.  This was not an entirely straightforward matter.

Hillsborough - Fresh Inquests - the question of Article 2 compliance

On 19th December 2012, the Administrative Court granted a 'fresh inquest' application made by the Attorney-General under the Coroners Act 1988 section 13 - see HM Attorney General v HM Coroner for South Yorkshire (West) and HM Coroner for West Yorkshire (West)  [2012] EWHC 3783 Admin - Lord Judge LCJ; Burnett LJ and HHJ Peter Thornton (Chief Coroner).  Lord Judge said (para 30):

'All the inquisitions will be quashed. There will be new inquests in each and every case. The legislation relating to venue is, as we have said in argument, problematic. The inquests will be remitted to another coroner for the same administrative area as the original inquests: in relation to the 95 victims the South Yorkshire (East) area at Doncaster; and in relation to the inquest into Anthony Bland, to the West Yorkshire (West) Coroner at Bradford.'

Royal concerns over the Succession to the Crown Bill

In 2011, it was announced that agreement had been reached with those countries where HM The Queen is Head of State that the law would be amended so that succession to the Crown will not depend on gender.  The announcement followed the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held in Australia.

See the Succession to the Crown Bill which had its 1st reading in the House of Commons on 13th December 2012.  As Bills go, this is a short one: a mere five clauses and one schedule.  The Bill, as introduced in December 2012, may be read here. 

Clause 1 - will remove the ancient rule of  male primogeniture and make succession to the Crown no longer dependent on gender.  Clause 2 - removes the bar on succession to the Crown  as a result of marriage to a Roman Catholic.  Clause 3 - requires the Sovereign to consent to a marriage by a person who, at the time of the marriage, is one of the 6 next in line of succession to the Crown.  The Bill does NOT seek to alter the rule that the Sovereign must be in communion with the Church of England and therefore the government argues that the proposed changes to the rules of succession do not affect the role of the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

It appears that

Information Rights ~ Secrecy ~ an interesting case in the pipeline

The expansion of secrecy in the courts:

The Joint Committee on Human Rights 16th report refers to there being 21 areas where special advocates could be used.   Para 58 of the 16th report stated:

"The Government replied that it was difficult to provide a comprehensive list of all the contexts in which closed material (as it prefers to call secret evidence) and special advocates are used, because in addition to the contexts in which the use of special advocates is provided for by legislation, the courts have an inherent jurisdiction to request that the relevant law officer consider appointing special advocates if they should become necessary in a particular case where there is no such express provision.  However, the Government provided a list of 21 different contexts in which it was "aware" that special advocates have been or may be used. In subsequent written answers to questions asked by our Chair, the Solicitor General confirmed that special advocates had been used in 14 of the 21 contexts identified in the Government's response to our inquiry.  However, in a further written answer she declined to say in how many cases in each of these contexts special advocates were used, on the basis that this information is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost."

This extract

Crown Prosecution Service ~ Guidance material

A look at two sets of guidance issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS): (1) Joint Enterprise and (2) Communications via social media.

(1) Joint Enterprise

Just before Christmas 2012, the CPS issued important guidance on how charging decisions will be made following offences involving two or more participants in what is known as "joint enterprise."

Joint enterprise guidance 20th December 2012


Keir Starmer QC said: "This is a controversial and complicated area of the criminal law, so I want the public to understand how we take decisions to charge in these cases. This guidance for prosecutors explains the case law and sets out the key tests that we must apply to each case. What this guidance cannot do is change the law, which is a matter for Parliament and the courts.

UK Human Rights Blog - 2012 - Year in Review

The UK Human Rights Blog has the following posts looking back at the "biggest human rights stories" of 2012:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

An article "In Defence of Rights" by Philippe Sands QC and Helena Kennedy QC has been published in the London Review of Books [Vol. 35 No. 1 - 3rd January 2013].  Sands and Kennedy were members of the Commission on a British Bill of Rights which reported in December 2012.

A look back on 2012 ~ a blockbuster of a year

What a year!  For any observer of the legal system, 2012 was a blockbuster with numerous stories and an immense amount of comment.  2012 was also the year of the immensely successful Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics and Paralympics held in London.  These superb events managed to lighten the mood within the country which is beset by seemingly intransigent economic woes.  November 2012 marked the mid-point of the present Parliament which is locked into place for 5 years by the, to my mind ill-considered, Fixed Terms Parliaments Act 2011.  On the legal front, here are just are some of the stories which, for me at least, stood out.

Back In January, the Scottish Independence Referendum 2014 was beginning to attract attention south of the border: Scotland: We need to talk.   Premiership Footballer John Terry said that he would "prove his innocence" at his trial and my comments on burden and standard of proof in criminal cases attracted a lot of views.  One of the purposes of blogging is to try to explain and it is amazing just how much misunderstanding there is about even basic aspects of the legal system.

February