The General Pharmaceutical Council (‘the GPhC’) is the regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies across the UK. Its primary function is to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public, by ensuring quality and maintenance of standards in pharmacy. The GPhC investigates complaints concerning pharmacy professionals and pharmacies and will take […]

Community Orders were introduced by The Criminal Justice Act 2003 and provide a non-custodialsentence option which a criminal court may impose where it is considered that the offence is not so serious that only imprisonment can be justified. ‘The Court must not make a Community Order unless it is of the opinion that: was serious […]

The 'bad character' of a Defendant encompasses previous convictions for similar offences to those being tried in the current criminal trial. The Prosecution may wish to introduce this history to support their allegations. With similar motivation, the criminal defence solicitors might seek to introduce a conviction(s) involving dishonesty on the part of a Prosecution witness, […]

Prosecutions of alleged criminal offences are ordinarily brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (‘the CPS’) upon evidence provided by a public authority, such as the Police, HMRC, the Serious Fraud Office, but can also be through Private Prosecutions. If the CPS chooses not to undertake a Prosecution, for any reason, an individual or organisation may […]

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a UK government agency responsible for processing requests for criminal records checks, of those who work with vulnerable groups such as children and adults at risk. The DBS Certificate is the document issued by the DBS after conducting a background check on an individual, detailing any relevant criminal […]

The Public Order Act 1986 (’the Act’) abolished the old common law offences of riot, rout, unlawful assembly and affray, creating new offences relating to public order. Regarded as one of the great reforming pieces of criminal legislation, the Act was passed after a period of public unrest and was designed, amongst other things, to […]