New CPS Guidance

One of the last things I did at the College of Policing was attend a meeting in London with the Crown Prosecution Service who had begun to review their guidance on the ‘prosecution of mentally disordered offenders’. The CPS issue prosecution guidance on a large number of topics, all publicly available on their website and […]

Like London Buses …

You know when you don’t get a question on section 5 of the Mental Health Act for ages and then three come along at once?! That … typical. It struck me the three queries grouped by theme would make a blog post, so where we go. As an introductory reminder, section 5 of the MHA […]

Playing the Mental Health Card

I spent the first hour of my Saturday responding to all the ill-informed comments on the Northumbria Police facebook page, after their media release following the sentencing of Ethan Mountain at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday. He was convicted earlier this month of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after unlawfully killing 62yr-old Joan Hoggett […]