The prosecution: Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC
The defendant: British politics, the legal system and the media.
The charges: You’ll have to listen to find ...
A high-profile immigration case takes centre stage at Prime Minister’s Questions, sparking debate over refugee law and the reality of power politics in an age of populism. In this episode of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC dissect Kemi Badenoch’s focus on a controversial ruling involving a Palestinian family. They go on to consider the UN Convention on Refugees, and ask whether it remains viable in a new age of mass displacement and population movement.How should governments respond to migration and asylum, when both are massive drivers of populist political movements seeking to promote authoritarianism and destroy liberal democracy?Finally, Ken and Tim return to the campaign to remove Richard Hermer from his position as Attorney General. Don’t these coordinated attacks, coming from his own ministers, and directed against his close friend and ally, make Keir Starmer himself look weak?You can find a link to the Gaza judgement hereAnd the Lady Chief Justice’s angry response to the attack on the Upper Tribunal Judge here
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25:34
Lucy Letby: The Experts Break Cover
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC explore the latest developments in the case of Lucy Letby, as her new barrister holds a second press conference revealing the conclusion of 14 experts that every baby died either as a result of natural causes or because of medical neglect. Do these new medical opinions ‘demolish’ the evidence of the prosecution experts, as her new barrister claims? Or, as some allege, has this new analysis taken place in a vacuum, ignoring all the circumstantial evidence presented to the jury confirming the Crown’s expert testimony that these infants were deliberately harmed, and that their attacker was Lucy Letby? Ken and Tim also consider the stance of the CCRC in the face of what will certainly be a robust prosecution response to this new material, and look at the approach likely to be taken by the Court of Appeal if the case is referred back to it by the CCRC. Finally the discussion turns to the increasingly concerted attacks from within government on Richard Hermer, the Attorney General. What does this obviously coordinated campaign of hostile briefing tell us about the relationship between a new Labour administration led by a former human rights barrister, and the law?
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32:03
The Stolen Honour of Andrew Malkinson
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by guest Chris Henley KC, to explore the terrible miscarriage of justice which led to Andrew Malkinson spending 17 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. Looking at Chris’s report into the scandal, they examine the failures of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and its atrocious mishandling of crucial DNA evidence. What lay behind the CCRC’s reluctance to revisit this wrongful conviction, and why did it betray its founding mission? They also consider the danger of relying on identification evidence, and the Court of Appeal’s much overdue quashing of Malkinson’s conviction, which it delivered with no apology. Why is there still such cultural resistance to the idea that innocent people can be convicted? And why aren’t Court of Appeal judges providing a stronger lead in uncovering injustice?
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36:36
Southport, Terrorism and Whole Life Tariffs
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC review the Southport murder trial, following Axel Rudakubana's sentencing to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years for the murders of three girls in Southport in July 2024. The discussion examines the implications of recent legislative changes surrounding whole life orders for young people, the public's reaction to severe sentencing, and the challenges of defining terrorism within the legal framework. The episode concludes by considering the effectiveness of the Prevent program in identifying potential threats and the difficulties of media reporting in high-profile cases.
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28:18
Listening to Criminals
In this episode, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC examine the powerful arguments for using telephone intercept evidence in UK criminal trials. Why are the security services so opposed to a reform that would obviously give a major boost to convicting terrorists and serious criminals, and why have successive governments failed to overcome this opposition? For context, Ken and Tim look at the 2020 joint French/Dutch police operation which led to the demise of EncroChat (the so-called “WhatsApp for professional criminals”) and the many successful prosecutions that followed in the UK and across Europe, as courts listened to criminals planning their crimes in real time. Virtually every other fair trial country relies heavily on intercept evidence to fight terrorism and organised crime. Why does the UK continue to stand against it?
About Double Jeopardy - The Law and Politics Podcast
The prosecution: Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC
The defendant: British politics, the legal system and the media.
The charges: You’ll have to listen to find out.
With decades of experience behind them, Ken and Tim bring you an insider’s analysis of the latest legal battles, high-profile cases, and emerging political issues happening across Britain.
This is ‘Double Jeopardy’, The Law and Politics Podcast.
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