Criminal Defence Lawyers Edinburgh

The long term downward trend in crime on Britain’s rail systems has continued with a 9.1% fall in notifiable crime in 2011/12, the eighth successive year crime has gone down.

Figures for twelve crime groups published by British Transport Police show that violent crime fell by 2.9%, whilst robberies were down 9.6% and vandalism (criminal damage) by 21.6%. Theft also fell, with theft of passengers’ property down 10.4% and theft of railway property down 12.8%.

In 2011/12, BTP also achieved all eleven of its national policing plan targets and 43 out of 47 local targets. National targets include reducing crime, disruption and anti-social behaviour whilst improving value for money.

Crime on the railways over the past five years has fallen by over 30%.

A recent campaign by police forces across Scotland to crack down on drivers on country roads who speed or fail to wear seat belts has detected a large number of drivers breaking the law.

Over the three days of the campaign, more than 700 drivers and passengers were found to be driving whilst not wearing a seatbelt.

A further 787 drivers were caught speeding, including one driver who was detected travelling at 92mph in a 60mph speed limit. The MOT for this driver's vehicle had also expired.

As a result of the campaign, 14 drivers were reported to the Procurator Fiscal for dangerous driving (Section 2 Road Traffic Act 1988) and ten for careless driving (Section 3 Road Traffic Act 1988).

The Government has announced plans to crack down on those who drive while under the influence of drugs.

Legislation unveiled in the Queen’s Speech will create a specific drug driving offence. Currently police have to demonstrate that driving had been impaired by drugs in order to prosecute.

The proposed legislation introduces an offence across Great Britain of driving or being in charge of a motor vehicle whilst having certain controlled drugs in the blood or urine in excess of the level specified for each of those drugs.

Devices to screen for drugs in the body are expected to receive type approval from the Home Office by the end of the year.

An independent review of drink and drug driving law in 2010 recommended that a new specified limit offence should be developed. The exact drugs covered by the offence and the specified limits for each will be determined following advice from an expert panel and a public consultation.

The penalty for the new offence will be a maximum of six months imprisonment and/or a fine of up to £5,000, and an automatic driving ban of at least 12 months.

Scottish police are launching a new campaign to tackle dangerous driving on country roads. The operation will run from 8th to 10th May, and will see police targeting drivers who break the speed limit, or who drive dangerously or carelessly.

Police officers will also be targeting drivers and passengers who fail to wear a seatbelt.

According to the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), over 70% of the 189 fatal road accidents that occurred in Scotland in 2010 were on 'non built up roads'. Many of these accidents involved:

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has issued guidance on the intentional or reckless sexual transmission of, or exposure to, sexually transmitted infections.

The policy has been drawn up in consultation with the Public Health Sector and other interested groups, including the Terrence Higgins Trust, HIV Scotland and the National AIDS Trust.

COPFS is one of the few prosecution services worldwide who have proactively published their prosecution guidance on this issue.

The Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland QC, said:

“This policy sets out clear guidance to prosecutors on cases where there is an allegation of sexual transmission of, or exposure to, infections which have serious, and potentially life-threatening consequences for the person infected.

“In preparing this policy, we have consulted closely with the public health sector alongside health charities and interest groups.

"We are publishing this guidance because we recognise that it is important to provide clarity and consistency on this area of the law. We also recognise the devastating effect that such diseases can have, and we will prosecute where it is in the public interest to do so, taking into account the rights of both victim and accused as well as any public health concerns."

New figures released by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) have revealed that the number of 17 – 20-year-olds estimated to be driving without insurance has decreased by half over the last three years.

Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on drug seizures by Scottish Police Forces, which give the number and quantity of drugs seized by the eight Scottish police forces in 2010-11.

A pilot project to tackle the problem of youth offending in Aberdeen has successfully helped to reduce the number of crimes committed by young people.

The system, which is being extended to local authorities across Scotland, aims to hold young people to account for their behaviour and stop them following the wrong path into a life of crime.

The final report into the pilot of Whole System Approach in Aberdeen revealed a 20% reduction in youth crime between 2008-09 and last year. It also showed that:

Half of motorists polled disagree with a Government proposal to increase fixed penalty notices from £60 to £90, according to research by the Institute of Advanced Motoring.                         

Fixed penalty notices can be given for a range of offences, but are most commonly associated with driving offences including speeding and jumping red lights. Under the plans, the £30 increase will be used to give a £30m cash boost to the fund for victims of crime and witnesses support.

Of the 1129 respondents, 51% disagreed with the proposal, 28% strongly, 35% agreed with the proposal, and 13% neither agreed nor disagreed.

When asked what they would think if the money went into improving road safety as opposed to victim support in general, 80% were happier with this proposal.

Eighty per cent of respondents think that this scheme could reduce driver’s trust in the purpose of enforcement measures, including safety cameras.

When asked what the biggest deterrent to bad driving was, 68% identified ‘enforcement – the likelihood I will get caught’, with 48% choosing ‘the fear of the consequences in terms of causing death or injury to myself/my passengers or other road users in the result of an accident’, and 42% saying’ the severity of the punishment if I was caught’.

Police forces across Scotland haven taken part in three days of action, coordinated by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, to target those who drive without suitable insurance. The campaign ran from Tuesday 3rd April until Friday 6th April 2012.

During the campaign, police detected a total of 207 driving offences, 146 in relation to uninsured drivers and 61 in relation to driving licence offences. As well as facing charges for these offences, police have also seized 84 cars.

Examples of the offences encountered during the campaign include:

Three senior procurators fiscal have been appointed to lead new prosecution ‘networks’ covering local Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) offices across Scotland.

The three ‘networks’ structure (North; East; and West) has replaced the COPFS previous eleven ‘area’ structure. The appointment of the new senior procurators fiscal: John Dunn (West); David Harvie (North); and John Logue (East), was announced by the Lord Advocate, Frank Mulholland QC.

The restructuring will allow the COPFS to use its technology to the full, with teams of staff from around Scotland working together to make the best use of resources and provide a more efficient and effective service to the public.

Specialism in all prosecution work is now at the core of the COPFS with the introduction of the new structure.

The move builds on the approach already taken at a national level where specialist prosecutors are already embedded in areas of work such as: Sexual Crime; Serious and Organised Crime; Health and Safety, and have delivered significant results.

Police forces across Scotland have taken part in three days of action, coordinated by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, to target those who drive without suitable insurance.

The seriousness of the offence is reflected in the level of the maximum fine of £5000, and the automatic endorsement of an offender’s licence with six to eight penalty points. The courts can also order the immediate disqualification of the offender.

Driving without insurance will result in the driver being issued with a £200 endorsable conditional offer of fixed penalty and six penalty points on their licence. The police also have the power to seize, and in some cases, destroy the vehicle that is being driven uninsured. Any vehicle seized under these powers will only be released on payment of the fixed penalty and presentation of a valid insurance certificate.

It is also an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than drive without insurance. Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) requires the Registered Keeper of a vehicle to insure a vehicle at all times unless the vehicle has a valid Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN).  The DVLA is responsible for enforcing this new process which involves records being continually compared with the Motor Insurance Database to identify those vehicles which are being kept without insurance.

A contravention of the CIE regulation can result in an initial fine of £100, if the vehicle remains uninsured, whether or not the fine is paid, can result in further action including clamping and removing the vehicle. Offenders may also be taken to court where a fine of £1000 can be levied.

Research from LV= car insurance has revealed that seven in ten motorists cannot name the speed limit on a rural road, single carriageway, dual carriageway, motorway or a road in a built up area. When shown photographs of different roads, 33% could not correctly identify the 60mph speed limit for a single carriageway and 52% did not know the speed limit on a rural road without street lights.

Since 2009, nearly one in ten (9%) drivers have been caught speeding and 17% of these have been caught two or three times. A freedom of information request by LV= car insurance showed that the number of motorists caught speeding increased last year with the total number of offences up by 6% compared with 2010 figures.

While the majority of speeding motorists are caught exceeding the speed limit by just a few mph, there are some who have been caught driving at breakneck speeds that would be more appropriate on a Formula One track. In 2011, Sussex Police caught Britain’s fastest speeder driving at 152mph, while another was caught by the Tayside Police driving at 149mph and the Thames Valley Police caught someone driving at 142mph.

Although we may be driving faster, the findings also show that speeding motorists are more likely to be caught by the authorities. In the past year, the number caught breaking the speed limit rose to 1.5 million (4.2% of motorists last year), notching up 2.2 million penalty points and a £41 million bill in the process.

Yet British motorists are unlikely to start putting their foot on the brake. Close to a third (30%) believe that the 70mph speed limit is too slow and a further 64% welcome the planned speed limit rise to 80mph. Currently around four in 10 (41%) drivers say they routinely break the current 70mph limit when they think they can get away with it.

Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2010/11: Drug Use report.

The publication presents statistics on adults’ experiences of illicit drug use and covers self-reported drug use in the last month, the last year and ever.

The main findings of the report include:

A driver has appeared before Oxford Magistrates Court charged with a number of driving offences, reports the Oxford Mail.

The driver, who was around three times over the drink drive limit, was involved in a police chase that resulted in him hitting two parked cars.

When he was caught, the police found traces of cocaine in his system, and discovered that he was driving without a licence and without insurance.

According to the Oxford Mail, the driver has a number of previous convictions for driving offences, and the Magistrates Court decided that its powers of sentencing were not sufficient to deal with him. He was released on bail to appear before the Crown Court in April.

A special parliamentary committee on organised crime, corruption and money laundering has been created by the European Parliament. It has a year to investigate infiltration of the EU's legal economy, public administration and financial systems by organised crime, including mafias, and propose ways to fight it.

Misappropriation of public funds, infiltration of the public sector, and contamination of the legal economy and financial system are some of the key threats posed by criminal organisations in the EU.

Within the time limit of its mandate, the committee is to evaluate the extent of organised crime's impact on the EU economy and society and recommend legislative and other measures to enable the EU to respond to these threats at international, European and national levels.

The committee, with a one year mandate extendable once, will have the power to make on site visits and hold hearings with EU and national institutions from all over the world.

MEPs may invite representatives of business and civil society and victims’ organisations, and officials, including judges, involved in the daily fight against organised crime, corruption and money laundering.

The special committee is to start work by the end of April this year.

New research from MoneySupermarket has found that one in six motorists have broken the law and driven a car they weren't insured to drive.

The European Commission has proposed new rules for more effective and widespread confiscation of funds and other property acquired through crime.

The Scottish Government has published the findings from the Evaluation of the Impact of Bail Reforms on Summary Justice Reform.

Using smartphones for social networking while driving is more dangerous than drink driving or being high on cannabis behind the wheel, according to research published by the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists). Despite this, 8% of drivers admit to using smartphones for email and social networking while driving – equivalent to 3.5 million licence holders.