Insights

A police investigation and an NMC fitness to practise case can run at the same time, to different standards of proof, and the NMC does not have to wait for the criminal outcome. How the two interact, what an interim order is, the sanctions a panel can impose, and why both are best handled together.

Russell Brand was sentenced on 9 November 2026 to 10 years and six months. This article does not comment on that case. It explains the process the day has put in the news: how a rape sentence is set, how much of it is served, what licence means, and how the sex offenders register works.

Most HMRC investigations are civil and end in tax, interest and penalties. A small number are run as criminal investigations, with arrest, search warrants and prosecution. How HMRC chooses the route, the offences and maximum sentences, and why the first response to HMRC often decides which route a case stays on.

The duty solicitor is whoever is next on the rota, and the person who attends may not be a qualified solicitor at all. What the duty solicitor scheme actually provides, how to ask for your own solicitor by name, and what a private criminal defence firm does before, during and after the interview.

The same injury can be charged as section 20 GBH, triable either way with a five-year maximum, or as section 18 GBH with intent, which is tried only in the Crown Court and carries life. The difference is intent, and it is usually settled long before trial. What each offence requires and where the defence begins.

Most criminal cases never reach a jury, and for either-way offences the accused can currently insist on one. How trial by jury works in England and Wales, how the venue is decided, the trials that already run without a jury, and why the charging decision matters more if the right to elect goes.

On 29 September 2026 section 246 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 narrowed the protection given to a person whose foreign conviction was obtained without them there. Three new routes now satisfy the retrial question, and a trial attended only by a lawyer counts as attendance. What the court asks, what changed, and why the date of arrest decides which test applies.

The Courts and Tribunals Bill left the Commons on 13 October without the Bench Division, and with the rest of its jury reforms intact. What it would change: judge-only trials for complex fraud and financial cases, the end of the right to elect, wider magistrates' sentencing powers, and appeals.

The Online Safety Act did not abolish the malicious communications offence. It cut two limbs out of it and added two new offences alongside it, so one message can now engage four overlapping provisions with maximum sentences ranging from six months to five years. Which one is charged decides the case.

Joint enterprise is not an offence and not a separate doctrine. It is ordinary secondary liability, and since R v Jogee in 2016 it requires proof that a person intended to assist or encourage the offence. What the Supreme Court corrected, what it left untouched, and why these cases turn on evidence of contribution long before trial.

On 1 October 2026 the release point for adult standard determinate sentences fell to one third, under section 23 of the Sentencing Act 2026. It reaches existing prisoners on a sliding scale that runs to June 2027, and 71 categories of offence are excluded outright. What the instrument says, rather than what the coverage says.

A charging decision is not a verdict. It is a published two-stage test, applied by a prosecutor to whatever is on the file that day. What the Full Code Test requires, when the Threshold Test is reached for and why it should be resisted, and the paragraph of the Code that lets a suspect put material in front of the decision-maker before the decision is taken.

From 29 September 2026 the exposure offence in section 66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 is rewritten. Intent to humiliate now counts, and a second route catches exposure for sexual gratification where the person is reckless about causing alarm. What the new wording requires, what a caution for it does to a career, and when it leads to notification.

A police caution is not a let-off. It requires a formal admission of guilt, it goes on the Police National Computer, it is disclosed on DBS checks, and it has to be declared to a regulator. It is offered in a custody suite, before charge, usually to someone with no solicitor present.

Nobody is charged with county lines. The charges are possession with intent to supply, supply, and conspiracy under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, sometimes alongside modern slavery offences. The sentence turns on role rather than quantity alone, and the statutory defence for exploited defendants is the one most often missed.

A sexual risk order can be made against somebody who has never been convicted, cautioned or even charged. It restricts ordinary life for a minimum of two years, decided on the balance of probabilities, and breaching it is a criminal offence that carries five years and the register.

A Teaching Regulation Agency referral runs on its own timetable, on the civil standard, and can end in a prohibition order barring someone from teaching for life. It does not wait for the criminal case, and what is said to the school in a safeguarding meeting is not privileged.

Perverting the course of justice is a common law offence carrying a maximum of life imprisonment, and it catches people who were never guilty of the thing they were first accused of. The three elements, the line between denying an allegation and interfering with an investigation, and why being cleared is not always the end.

The same trade can be a criminal offence under the Criminal Justice Act 1993 and a regulatory breach under UK MAR. One route carries up to ten years and a jury. The other is decided by the FCA on the balance of probabilities with no jury at all. Which one you face is decided early.

Most of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 is not yet in force, despite coverage treating it as live. The provisions that did commence include a longer window for referring a sentence to the Court of Appeal as unduly lenient. A sentence that feels final can still be reopened and increased.

Fraud by false representation is the most commonly charged fraud offence in England and Wales, and the offence is complete the moment the representation is made. Nobody has to be deceived and nobody has to lose anything. How section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 works, why dishonesty and the breadth of "representation" decide most cases, and where the defence sits.

For a professional sportsperson, a criminal allegation is never only a criminal problem. The club, the governing body, the sponsors and the media all move on their own timetables, and usually faster than the police. How the parallel proceedings interact, why the criminal case sets the terms for everything else, and what has to happen in the first week.

Most sexual offence allegations do not turn on whether something happened. They turn on consent, and on whether any belief in consent was reasonable. How section 74 defines consent, how the section 75 and 76 presumptions work, what "reasonable belief" actually requires, and why the evidence that answers these questions is usually gone within weeks.

A no further action decision ends the immediate risk of charge, but it is not an acquittal and it does not wipe the record. How an NFA decision is actually made, how pre-charge representations are used to secure one before a charging decision is taken, and what can be done afterwards about police records, DBS disclosure and the person who made the allegation.

An account freezing order can lock your bank account for up to two years without a criminal charge, often without warning. How AFOs work, who can apply for one, and the routes to vary or discharge an order before the money is forfeited.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order can restrict where you go, who you contact, your travel and your internet use for at least five years, and breaching it is a criminal offence. How an SHPO is imposed, how its terms can be resisted or narrowed, and how to apply to vary or discharge one.

A doctor accused of a criminal offence faces two investigations, not one. The GMC can restrict a registration within weeks, long before the police decide whether to charge. How the two proceedings interact, and why they have to be defended as a single strategy.

On 29 June a large block of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 came into force. Several of the powers still being reported as new law did not. A defence reading of what actually commenced, what did not, and why the difference matters if police make contact.

By 2026 the story on EncroChat is that the courts have settled it: the messages are admissible and the appeals have failed. That is a misreading. The real defence is rarely about whether the material gets in. It is about attribution, reliability and disclosure, and those are fights the prosecution does not always win.

Indecent image allegations are among the most serious, and most misunderstood, in criminal law, because the law is broad enough to catch people who never sought out a single image. A defence view of how the offences work, what the prosecution must prove, the defences that genuinely exist, and why the first 48 hours after a device seizure matter more than almost anything that follows.