Collateral Currie brother must pay £265k or face 3 years in prison
The Crown Court has ordered the director of a failed peer-to-peer lending company to pay compensation to over 1,000 investors who were victims of his fraudulent activity. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm and two related companies entered administration in April 2018. The…
1,200 day wait for justice now routine at Snaresbrook Crown Court
Defendants on bail are having to wait over 3 years for a trial date at the busiest Crown Court in England and Wales, but those with the money to do so can have their case treated as a priority, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report. A defendant stands in the dock. ‘Not Guilty’ he says, twice,…
Stratford Youth Court: Tower Hamlets drug dealer found guilty of assaulting police officers
In court the teenager sat slumped in his seat, eyes fixed on his feet. In June 2024 he had been a different figure entirely: shouting abuse, thrashing against officers and, according to them, lashing out with kicks and a deliberate stamp. PC Paul Martin, a 15-year police veteran stationed at Bethnal Green, recalled the evening…
Charge dropped as police no-show and 14-point-licence-holder avoids disqualification
A trial for alleged careless driving is cancelled at Stratford Magistrates’ Court after the only witness, a police officer, fails to attend court, whilst a man with dodgy brakes avoids disqualification after pleading exceptional hardship. Technically I saw three cases during my afternoon at Stratford Magistrates’ Court before District Judge (MC) Matthew Bone – saw…
Justice delayed is justice denied: 3.5 year wait for trial date
A defendant must wait 43 months for a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, prompting the judge to reply “wow” and “oh my gosh” when told the date by his clerk. The defendant, a 31-year-old man, had been charged with threatening members of the public with a machete in the Tower Hamlets area. He denies the…
Drowsy juror nods off during trial
A trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court was halted twice because of suspicions a juror was asleep. The first instance occurred during the defence summing up when the jury were sent out on an impromptu break. “A juror may have been napping” explained the judge. A conversation between counsel, held without the jury present, confirmed that…
Barrister accused of falsifying tax returns – the indictment revealed
Top tax barrister Robert Venables KC, 77, of Old Square Tax Chambers is currently facing two counts of dishonestly cheating the public revenue in active criminal proceedings before Southwark Crown Court. The existence of the charges were first revealed by Dan Neidle, of Tax Policy Associates, in a report headed “Robert Venables, senior tax KC,…
Peter Currie victims set to receive 500 pence each after FCA confiscation hearing
The Crown Court has approved a payment of £5,000 to be divvied up among the over 1,000 investors who were victims of the fraudulent activity of a director of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm Collateral (UK) Limited. Collateral (UK) Limited was a finance company which facilitated investments crowdfunded by members of the public. The firm…
Crown Court Judge relents after threat of judicial review
A circuit judge has approved a transcript request made by the mouseinthecourt after we persisted through several layers of resistance. We don’t claim that this is a particularly thrilling read suffice to say it’s a textbook example of the day-to-day difficulties that even simple requests for information cause. Whilst we make no suggestion that the…
A morning at Snaresbrook reveals court under pressure
The mouseinthecourt spent the morning live-tweeting from the busiest crown court in England and Wales – Snaresbrook. “You’ll come to a gate which looks like the entrance to a graveyard that hasn’t been looked after for a while” is how a barrister once described how the public entrance to Snaresbrook Crown court might look like.…
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