BBC NEWS A victim of the Alton Tower’s Smiler crash described the aftermath as being like “a horror movie” as the theme park admitted health and safety breaches. Chanda Chauhan and her daughter Vanisha Singh spoke out for the first time about their ordeal riding in the second carriage. Merlin Attractions, which owns the Staffordshire…
BBC NEWS The owner of Alton Towers has been told it faces a large fine after admitting responsibility for the Smiler rollercoaster crash. Merlin Attractions Operations Ltd indicated a guilty plea to charges of breaching the Health and Safety Act. The firm’s counsel, Simon Antrobus, told a court Merlin accepted it could have taken additional…
The Law Gazette A solicitor has been fined £5,000 for sending flirtatious texts and WhatsApp messages to a vulnerable client he was representing in a domestic violence matter. Andrew Lee, formerly an associate at Liverpool-based firm Gregory Abrams Davidson, was found to have acted inappropriately after he sent messages referring to his client as ‘lovely’,…
The Guardian Steep increases likely to prevent those with few resources from challenging decisions to deport them The rises are being brought in to help pay off the Ministry of Justice’s funding deficit. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Asylum and immigration tribunal fees are set to increase by more than 500% in order to help pay…
BBC NEWS Footballer Ched Evans has had his conviction for rape quashed at the Court of Appeal in London, but will face a new trial. The ex-Wales international was jailed in 2012 for raping a 19-year-old at Premier Inn near Rhyl, Denbighshire. The former Sheffield United, Manchester City and Norwich player was released from jail…
The Law Gazette MPs have criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority for what they say is a failure to examine the conduct of a magic circle firm over its role in a cashback guarantee scheme allegedly mis-sold to consumers. A report published today by an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) chaired by Conservative MP Andrew Percy claims…
The independent Home Secretary announces aggressive proposals to avoid Britain’s financial system ‘being undermined by illicit finance and the funding of terrorism’ Home Secretary Theresa May will set out the potential new powers on Thursday Getty Images Suspected money launderers could be forced to declare their wealth under aggressive proposals set to be unveiled by the Government. Those who…
BBC NEWS The government is paying more than £4m each year in compensation to people who were held unlawfully in immigration detention centres, figures show. The centres hold people the government is trying to deport, including failed asylum-seekers and foreign prisoners. A BBC Freedom of Information request found the government paid £4m in 2014-15, and…
The Law Gazette A former solicitor has admitted pretending to work for HM Revenue & Customs in an attempt to obtain information about a disciplinary investigation into his own misconduct. Paul Baxendale-Walker, 52, was struck off as a solicitor at a tribunal hearing in 2007, but then wrote to the Law Society to try to…
The Independent The men are accused of having links to Al Qaeda Home Secretary Theresa May Getty The Government has been barred from deporting six men to Algeria because there is a “real risk” they could be tortured there, judges have ruled. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled…
