Dr Christopher Hamerton

Academic @CityStGeorges. Fellow @RoyalAnthro and @LinneanSociety. Barrister (NP) @middletemple. Always tweeting independently, sometimes existentially.

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

Delighted to share that White-Collar Defendants and the Legal Process, has published today. A pleasure to collaborate with Prof. Petter Gottschalk @HandelshoyskBI on this project, with sincere thanks to our editor Colin Perrin (@glasshousebooks) and his team @routledgebooks

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@GrumpyOldRick Well said Rick. Completely agree.

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@GilsonGray I have a feeling that this boast may not age well GG!

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@TonyDowson5 Raffles! It’s the grappling hook and stripey jumper!

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@BritishRowing @allmarkone Go Wessex!

[British Rowing @BritishRowing]

16 regions represented by 129 clubs and nearly 2,000 athletes head to the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta this Saturday 🙌

Read the preview and let us know who you're supporting👇
https://t.co/rXiukBKN3d

📸 @allmarkone

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@MarkHiggie2 and your wingwoman, Mark! 😊

[Chris Daw KC @crimlawuk]

Will you join me in making this pledge?

They cannot scrap juries unless we as a profession are complicit.

We have the right to say no.

Barristers, solicitors, paralegals and caseworkers up and down the land.

Without us they have no Lammy Diplock Courts.

Make your voice heard.

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

Hello, there 👋

Have you heard David Lammy MP and Sarah Sackman MP talking about people stealing bottles of whisky and swiping mobile telephones as examples of people who should not get jury trials?

Well. I’d like to tell you a story.

🪡 🧵

[Karl Turner MP @KarlTurnerMP]

3 years isn’t long in jail is it, Luke? And what if you hadn’t done it? Like the 900 plus sub-postmasters that under these ludicrous proposals wouldn’t get a jury trial. Remember what the Labour Party exists for? It would serve us all good to think about that. Wrong, Luke. Wrong

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@Joanna__Hardy Fabulous Joanna, very well done!

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

Morning again, David Lammy!

I do wonder how long you & I must do this merry little dance. But here we go again.

75 courtrooms. Today. Sitting empty.

Will you let us hold 75 rape trials in them?

Instead of restricting jury trials for thousands of people?

And if not, why not?

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@ClarkeMicah @holysmoke Thank goodness Larry Grayson swooped in to save it following said debacle!

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@DreyfusJames @bindelj Bet he asked for baked beans without appropriate enclosure!

[Diary of Samuel Pepys @DiaryOfPepys]

Thursday 25 December 1662

(Christmas Day). Up pretty early, leaving my wife not well in bed, and with my boy walked, it being a most brave cold and dry frosty morning, and had a pleasant walk to White Hall, where I intended to have received the Communion with the family, but I came a little too late.
By and by down to the chappell again where Bishopp Morley preached upon the song of the Angels, “Glory to God on high, on earth peace, and good will towards men.” Methought he made but a poor sermon …
The sermon done, a good anthem followed, with vialls, and then the King came down to receive the Sacrament...
I walked home again with great pleasure, and there dined by my wife’s bed-side with great content, having a mess of brave plum-porridge and a roasted pullet for dinner, and I sent for a mince-pie abroad, my wife not being well to make any herself yet…
so to my office, practising arithmetique alone and making an end of last night’s book with great content till eleven at night, and so home to supper and to bed.

Merry Christmas

[The CBA @TheCriminalBar]

Calamity Lammy’ in new gaffes

DAVID Lammy faces fresh ridicule after making a string of errors in his latest attempt to defend curtailing jury trials. Writes @DailMail

“The blunder by Mr Lammy, who was called to the bar before becoming an MP, was spotted by criminal defence barrister @Joanna__Hardy. She also noted contradictory figures as Mr Lammy tried to explain his reforms.”

The Lord Chancellor, dubbed ‘Calamity Lammy’ over his handling of mistaken prisoner releases, wrongly wrote to the Justice Select Committee: ‘We do not have minimum sentences in law.’
In fact, many offences have statutory minimum sentences including murder, terrorism, possession of a gun and threatening with a knife, while burglars and drug-dealers face minimum terms for repeat offences.”

[The CBA @TheCriminalBar]

“We don’t need dramatic gestures that pose as solutions. We don’t need short cuts. Or gimmicks. Or judge-only trials. We need court rooms that function, with ordinary people serving on juries, fulfilling their civic duty, and delivering justice by deciding fairly whether to acquit or convict.” Chair Riel Karmy-Jones KC
“It has taken years for successive governments to break our justice system through chronic underfunding and neglect. It will take time, patience, and the cooperation of all involved to fix it. It can be done. But it starts with investment.”

https://t.co/cQlIpy8Fpr

[The Bar Council @thebarcouncil]

HHJ Christopher Kinch KC's new opinion piece argues that the Lord Chancellor must rethink plans to limit the right to jury trial.

The resident judge at a London court for 11 years writes: "For me, the government argument falls short both on evidence and analysis. It also deliberately and cynically ignores practical answers that would do much more to 'restore trust' and 'prevent collapse'.

"Public trust lies at the heart of the government’s argument, yet juries remain one of the most trusted elements of the criminal justice system at a time when confidence in public institutions is in short supply."

Read more⤵️
https://t.co/8WibkmJ8jk

[Allan Compton KC @AllanCompton7]

anyone who thinks the answer to the backlog is restricting jury trials - just read this!
Years of underinvestment cause all of this - the answer is simple - restore investment levels to a system that would and always has worked well - don’t butcher it… https://t.co/AhQFW7apQU

[Dr Christopher Hamerton @chrishamerton]

@RickyGroverUK Also Rick, good compromise if you want to be on message - CongestionZone. Go full Blazing Squad style and have about 55 members.