LEGAL AID

 

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ABOUT TIME - While the move to highlight the crisis in the criminal justice system is welcome news to those accused of crimes in the future, what about those poor souls who were wrongfully convicted years ago. Even after release from prison some of those brought face to face with a weighted system that meant no chance of a fair trial, are still paying the price for the Government under funding and pressures on police to secure more convictions for less money.

 

On top of that some police forces are guilty of institutional discrimination, being more than willing to lend councils a hand if trying to stitch up challenging members of the public, especially ones that are getting the hang of public appeals and have already won a few that have embarrassed them, as the involuntary advocate showed how vile their administrative practices were, to include bulldozing and animal sanctuary before the hearing of an appeal, doing their level best to devalue land owned by a builder who was in competition with a mason who was the son-in-law of am assistant district planning officer.

 

 

 

TELEGRAPH 30 MARCH 2018 - BARRISTERS GO ON STRIKE IN PROTEST AT COLLAPSING CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Barristers are to go on strike in protest at the “collapsing” criminal justice system, meaning court proceedings across the country face massive disruption next week.

Leading legal chambers Doughty Street, Garden Row and 25 Bedford Row are among those set to take part in the action.

It comes after the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has warned that prisons, courts, the police and probation services are "underfunded and in chaos".

Chair Angela Rafferty QC said "relentless cuts" have resulted in "near collapse" of the justice system. "You cannot have a national asset and treat it like this," she added.

She said under-funding means cases are not being properly investigated by the police and CPS, there is uncertainty and delay at court and "unnecessary distress" for witnesses, victims and defendants.

"Meanwhile the poor and vulnerable in society are being denied access to justice," she added. "The system is desperate, it cannot endure any more cuts."

The recent disclosure crisis, which led to the collapse of a number of rape trials last year prompting the Met Police to review all their cases, has also highlighted "the appalling state of our system", a CBA spokesman said.

"Criminal barristers are the ones who have to pick up the pieces and are not being paid for the disclosure work which stops people going to prison," he said.

The CBA has advised its 4,000 members to take action after 90 per cent voted in favour, with a turnout of around 55 per cent.

According to a recent survey by the General Council of the Bar, more than a third of criminal barristers said they are considering leaving the profession, with the main reason being low income and work-life balance.

A spokesman for the Bar Council said: "The Ministry of Justice budget has been slashed across the board in the last decade.

"The effects, in every area, are becoming ever clearer: courts and prisons in a deplorable state of repair, leading to unacceptable conditions, litigants struggling to deal with their own cases without legal help in the most trying of circumstances, overloaded courts and judges, increasing delays and judicial morale at rock bottom, to name but a few.

"While the current investment in the court reform programme is substantial, it cannot hope to reverse all of the harm that has already been done, and continues to be done, and its focus is really elsewhere."

The planned strike is a reaction to the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme (AGFS), which is due to come into force on April 1.

The Ministry of Justice said the scheme is cost neutral and that the amount barristers will be paid for legal aid work will be reflected by how complex a case is.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We are extremely disappointed with the position the Criminal Bar Association has taken today, especially given that they and other members of the bar participated fully in the design of the scheme.

"Our reforms will reflect the actual work done in court, representing better value for the taxpayer, and will replace an archaic scheme under which barristers were able to bill by pages of evidence.

"We greatly value the work of criminal advocates and will continue to engage with the bar moving forwards."

 

 

 

 

 

CHRIS GRAYLING  - Former justice minister tightened up the screws a few more notches in 2014 with his legal aid cutbacks, further damaging the right of a person who cannot afford to mount his own legal defence, to a fair trial. More on this Pothole Politics as other cases come to light. Mr Grayling is now the transport minister.

 

 

 

DAILY MAIL FEBRUARY 2014 - BARRISTERS TO STRIKE AGAIN OVER LEGAL AID SHAKEUP

 

Lawyers have pledged to stage a second strike to undermine the Government’s legal aid shake-up after Justice Secretary Chris Grayling published a final raft of reforms.

 

Members of the Criminal Bar Association will bring the court system to a halt when they take part in a nationwide walkout next Friday in protest at the cuts.

 

They insist the reductions in fees paid by the taxpayer will stop bright legal brains becoming criminal lawyers. Some junior barristers earn as little as £13,000 a year, their leaders said.

 

Lawyers on strike outside the Old Bailey last month were branded the most elite picket line in the history of British industrial relations.

 

Their cause was undermined after one young barrister was pictured clutching a £1,100 Mulberry handbag, though she later claimed it had been a gift from her mother.

 

Legal hackles are up because the Ministry of Justice is slashing £215million from the annual £2.1billion legal aid bill. The cuts target the fees paid to barristers defending criminals.

 

Among the most contentious proposals is a 17 per cent cut in litigators’ fees to be phased in from next month.

 

Yesterday barristers lashed out at the Government for pressing ahead with ‘significant’ legal aid cuts.

 

Nicholas Lavender, chairman of the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, said: ‘We are bitterly disappointed that, despite a sustained campaign emphasising that these proposals are contrary to the public interest, the Government is pressing ahead with significant cuts to legal aid for advocacy in the Crown Court.

 

‘These cuts are financially unnecessary, will cause significant damage to the justice system and to our international reputation for upholding the rule of law, and will drive skilled and experienced advocates away from publicly-funded criminal work.’

 

Alongside plans to cut legal aid fees, Mr Grayling announced measures aimed at supporting lawyers through the period of transition.

 

They include plans to overhaul fees paid to defence lawyers so they no longer lose out when a case heard in the Crown Court, which could have been heard in the magistrates’ court, is dropped by the prosecution.

 

Mr Grayling also announced plans to bring in interim payments to help with lawyers’ cash flow in long trials.

 

He said: ‘This Government is dealing with an unprecedented financial challenge and I have no choice but to look for the savings I have to make across the full range of the Ministry of Justice’s work.

 

‘I cannot exempt legal aid from this but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand how challenging these reductions will be.’

 

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: ‘Legal aid is a lifeline to many of the most vulnerable in our society. A civilised society needs a system of legal aid to ensure access to justice for everyone.’

 

 

 

 

 

SILENCING OPPOSITION - Articles 9 and 10 are supposed to protect a person's right to challenge authority. It is hardly surprising where councils pursue what amounts to eugenics agendas in secret sessions, that. Because of this secrecy institutional discrimination is rife and flourishing. Hitler used his SS and Gestapo in exactly the same way, but more directly.

 

     

 

One of the problems with the British justice system is that the Criminal Cases Review Commission appear to be part of the subtle eugenics programme that has taken a hold, leading to many convictions that are unsound to say the least. The injustice is perpetuated in some cases by the Courts who are not as independent as they are supposed to be or as you might believe.

 

Indeed, the CCRC, CPS and High Court Judges are infested with masons who refuse to declare this impediment to impartiality.

 

Where a brother Judge has steered a trial to gain a conviction for a brother mason and is caught out later by the evidence, or the fact that there was not full disclosure, or that disclosure was prevented because the police failed to secure the crime scene, in some cases deliberately to secure a conviction, the CCRC will look the other way.

 

The CCRC can do this at the moment because their remit is not Article 14 compliant. Three High Court Judges are quoted as saying that the Commission are: "entitled to take a view." What they were saying then is that the CCRC are exempt from Article 14 discrimination and that they can treat one person differently to another person in near identical circumstances.

 

In one case that we have information of that person had called off an engagement to the daughter of a mason. The man in question was threatened by his former fiancé and her daughter that if he dared to leave their family that they would get him.............

 

The Sussex Police did not secure the crime scene, not securing a video collection of The Bill and Casualty episodes that the daughter had built up, nor their computers, and most especially not the work diary of the woman who had been jilted.........

 

By way of contrast, the Sussex Police did secure the defendant's computer, but having done so in the hope of finding something incrimination, then failed to disclose to the Jury that there was nothing on it other than a profile of the defendant that revealed nothing other than his conservation concerns and battles with his local council.

 

Several emails between the claimant and her mother and the defendant, that damaged their case were also not revealed by the Sussex Police in their rush to convict a man on no evidence other than the say so of the claimant.

 

Another flaw in their argument was that the girl had claimed multiple vaginal penetrations, but that her hymen was intact. In this regard the jury were most obviously deceived by the so-called expert that the police called to give evidence at the trial. An authoritative study of marks that were presented the Jury in this case as suspicious, tells that the marks the State's expert relied on were naturally occurring.

 

The revision of Sex Laws by David Blunkett and Harriet Harman guaranteed higher conviction rates by denying those accused a fair trial and reversing the burden of proof in sex cases. That coupled with the reductions in public funding for defendant's on Legal Aid, ensured that disclosure and other issues related to the sealing of crime scenes and proper investigation, etc., would disadvantage the defence further. From any angle, looking at cases such as this you may care to agree that the British justice system is so far removed from a level playing field as to be a virtual kangaroo court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

DAILY STAR MARCH 29 2018 - BRITISH COURTS SHUT GRINDING JUSTICE SYSTEM TO A HALT

 

BRITAIN’S justice system could grind to a halt after barristers announced a strike to start on Sunday.

 

They are angry at the Government’s cuts to the legal aid budget.

 

A massive 90% of barristers backed “direct action” to stop courts falling apart and allowing crooks off the hook.

 

The Criminal Bar Association claimed it was forced to take action.

 

Chairwoman Angela Rafferty said yesterday that the decision had been made with “heavy hearts”, adding: “The system is desperate – as are we.

 

“For years the criminal justice system has been held together by the professionalism and goodwill of judges, court staff and lawyers. But the supply of sticking plaster has run out.

 

“Meanwhile the poor and vulnerable in society are being denied access to justice.”

 

The strike is also over a new scheme, which will see lawyers not get paid for going through thousands of computer and phone messages.

 

Already under the current system, some barristers earn less than the minimum wage.

 

The Ministry of Justice has also closed 258 courts since 2010.

 

A Ministry spokesman said: “Our reforms will reflect the actual work done in court, representing better value for the taxpayer, and will replace an archaic scheme under which barristers were able to bill by pages of evidence.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHANNEL 4 NEWS 16 NOVEMBER 2013 - BARRISTERS STRIKE THREAT TO LEGAL AID CUTS

 

Criminal barristers are threatening strike action if the government does not drop plans to slash legal aid, a leading QC warns.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA), a union of more than 4,000 lawyers, has unveiled a new campaign poster as part of a protest against the proposed cuts held in London on Saturday.

Nigel Lithman QC, chairman of the CBA, said the public show of defiance – illustrated by the threat of unprosecuted paedophiles and murderers – could be a precursor to industrial action as early as January 2014.

He said: “If the rally doesn’t work, then more drastic action has to be taken. The criminal bar is not prepared to work in the face of these cuts.”

Plans for a strike were reportedly discussed at the rally outside Lincoln’s Inn on Saturday, where lawyers marched against plans to slash £220m from legal aid.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling moved to cut a further 30 per cent from the £1bn-a-year legal aid bill in April despite a 40 per cent reduction in funding since 1997, a decision that Mr Lithman said would cripple criminal trials.
‘Not prepared to work on that basis’

He said: “The most serious cases are collapsing. Barristers are going to court, telling the judge that the government has changed the terms of their contract. They’re not prepared to work on that basis, nor are they prepared to take future cases on that basis.

“This is the most immediate problem the bar and the government faces; how they manage to arrange representation of those people whose barrister’s position has been made untenable by the government.

“People are not only walking away from the profession, but other people won’t come into the profession. Without them it will be impossible to prosecute serious criminals or defend the innocent ones.”

According to the CBA, 98 per cent of British barristers are not prepared to work under the proposed changes.

It reports that 60 per cent of those now face working for fees of less than £20 a day.
Rates of pay ‘driven down’

Mr Lithman continued: “People coming to the bar will be facing debts of £72,000 – and scholarships granted by chambers won’t be offered because the rates of pay are being driven down. The criminal bar will become closed to people from a working class background.

“In any event, why would people want to come to one part of the legal profession where a commercial counterpart would earn in an hour what they earn in a week.

“The bar is not about a dozen people that have earned handsomely, it is about the 5,000 that makes the court tick and do so with standards of excellence that are disappearing.”

 

 

 

WHO WE WERE FIGHTING AGAINST FROM 1939 TO 1945

 

 

Adolf Hitler

 

Adolf Hitler

German Chancellor

 

Herman Goring

 

Herman Goring

Reichsmarschall

 

Heinrich Himmler

 

Heinrich Himmler

Reichsführer

 

Josef Goebbels

 

Joseph Goebbels

Reich Minister

 

 Philipp Bouhler

 

Philipp Bouhler SS

NSDAP Aktion T4

 

Josef Mengele

 

Dr Josef Mengele

Physician Auschwitz

 

 

Martin Borman

 

Martin Borman

Schutzstaffel

 

 

Adolf Eichmann

 

Adolph Eichmann

Holocaust Architect

 

 

Rudolph Hess

 

 Rudolf Hess

Commandant

 

 

Erwin Rommel

 

Erwin Rommel

The Desert Fox

 

 

Karl Donitz

 

Karl Donitz

Kriegsmarine

 

 

Albert Speer

 

Albert Speer

Nazi Architect

 

 

 

WEALDEN'S OFFICERS FROM 1983 TO 2018

 

 

Ian Kay

 

Ian Kay

Assist. Dist. Plan.

 

Charles Lant

 

Charles Lant

Chief Executive

 

Patrick Scarpa, solicitor Wealden District Council

 

Victorio Scarpa

Solicitor

 

Timothy Dowsett

 

Timothy Dowsett

Dist. Secretary

 

Christine Nuttall, solcitor, Wealden District Council corruption and monument protection English Heritage 

 

Christine Nuttall

Solicitor

 

David Phillips, perjury and corruption Wealden District Council, the Energy Age, Nelson Kruschandl

 

David Phillips

Planning

 

 

Daniel Goodwin

 

Daniel Goodwin

Chief Executive

 

 

J Douglas Moss

 

J Douglas Moss

Policy

 

 

 

 Kelvin Williams

Dist. Planning

 

 

 

Trevor Scott

Solicitor

 

 

David Whibley, enforcement officer Wealden District Council

 

David Whibley

Enforcement

 

 

Christine Arnold

 

Christine Arnold

Planning

 

 

 

 

 

Beverly Boakes

 

Beverley Boakes

Legal Secretary

 

 

Patrick Coffey

 

 Patrick Coffey

Planning

 

 

Julian Black planning consultant

 

Julian Black

Planning

 

 

 

Ashley Brown

Dist. Planning

 

 

 

Derek Holness

Former CEO

 

 

Abbott Trevor - Alcock Charmain - Ditto - Arnold Chris (Christine) - Barakchizadeh Lesley - Paul Barker - Bending Christopher

Black Julian - Boakes Beverley - Bradshaw Clifford - Brigginshaw Marina - Brown Ashley - Coffey Patrick - Douglas Sheelagh

Dowsett Timothy - Flemming Mike - Forder Ralph - Garrett Martyn - Goodwin Daniel - Henham J - Holness Derek

Hoy Thomas - Johnson Geoff - Kavanagh Geoff - Kay Ian - Kay I. M. - Barbara Kingsford - Lant Charles - Mercer Richard

Mileman Niall - Moon Craig - Moss Douglas, J.Nuttall Christine - Pettigrew Rex - Phillips David - Scarpa Victorio - Scott Trevor

Kevin Stewart - Wakeford Michael. - Whibley David - White, George - Williams Kelvin - Wilson Kenneth - White Steve

 

 

 

 

 

LINKS & REFERENCE

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/legal-aid-cuts-chris-grayling-barristers-strike-protest

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/692542/British-justice-system-barristers-strike-legal-aid-budget

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2569831/Barristers-strike-legal-aid-shake-Justice-Secretary-Chris-Grayling-publishes-final-raft-reforms.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/30/barristers-go-strike-protest-collapsing-criminal-justice-system/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

Wealden District Council's green logo for headed letters      It appears that Wealden District Council advocate pissing and shitting in hedges.   Wealden District Council's green logo for headed letters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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