Legal News

According to a freedom of information request obtained by BBC there are more than 57,000 people currently on police bail. In one such instance a person who was arrested three and a half years ago was found to be still on bail.
The Law Society told BBC Radio 5 live it wanted a review of police bail practices and said there should be a statutory time limit on police bail.
The data was collated from 34 of the 44 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which responded to a Freedom of Information request.
With no limit currently on the time limit on how long a person could be kept on police bail before a decision on whether to charge them is made out of the 57,428 people currently on bail 3,172 have been waiting for more than six months for a decision on charges.
There have been a number of high-profile cases of people who have been held waiting on police bail for a lengthy period of time that includes former News of the World executive Neil Wallis, arrested on suspicion of phone hacking in 2011 who has been on bail for 19 months before being told that he was not going to be charged for any offence.
The figures, uncovered by BBC Radio 5 Live, include one case of a man who has not been told whether or not he will be charged, despite having been arrested and bailed by the Metropolitan Police three years and eight months ago.
The force says the man is a 45-year-old who was arrested October 2009 on suspicion of fraud. He is next due to answer bail in August.
The Met said that it was aware of bail time in the particular case which had been a very lengthy and complex investigation. Conditions can be placed on police bail which can range from curfews, to restrictions on movement and financial transactions while an investigation was ongoing.
The Law Society says that people are often left in the wilderness while police decide whether or not they should be charged with a crime.
One such victim, a former teacher, who was accused of sexual assault says that he was on bail for five months before being told that no further action was warranted against him he was let off because the assault was found to be false.
He said being on police bail and waiting for a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) could be having a big impact on the lives of those arrested. He was suspended form his job and was scared to leave house because he was paranoid that people knew he was a police suspect.
Steve White, the vice chairman of the Police Federation, said more resources were needed to speed up cases.