GV Hale news

13/04/26

Providing music lessons, gym access, and cooking facilities to prisoners struggling with drug addiction has been shown to nearly halve reoffending rates, according to new data.

Relocating inmates to drug-free wings and subjecting them to regular testing has also been linked to lower levels of violence among prisoners. These specialised units, now established in dozens of prisons across England, offer incentives such as access to gardens, work opportunities, and priority family visits for those who commit to staying drug-free and agree to frequent testing.

25/03/26

Shabana Mahmood has abolished non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) following mounting criticism that they were diverting police from tackling crime and into monitoring online speech.

The Home Secretary has introduced legislation to revoke the statutory code governing how police record and investigate such incidents. The decision follows a review led by the College of Policing, in which ministers accepted police chiefs' view that the current system is "not fit for purpose".

23/02/26

Taxpayers have paid out almost £1 million in compensation to prisoners who were held beyond their legal release dates.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reveal that over the past four years, £937,766 has been paid to 214 inmates who remained behind bars after they should have been freed.

22/01/26

Non-crime hate incidents should be abolished because they squander police time and public money, according to one of Britain's most senior judges.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, the UK's first female Lord Justice of Appeal, said officers are being diverted from tackling serious crime to investigate minor disagreements and online disputes.

18/12/25

A teenage boy has been charged with the murder of a nine-year-old girl at her home in Weston-super-Mare.

Aria Thorpe, who had celebrated her ninth birthday just two weeks earlier, died from a single stab wound on Monday, Avon and Somerset Police said. The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Bristol Magistrates' Court yesterday. He spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth and was remanded into youth detention accommodation ahead of a hearing at Bristol Crown Court tomorrow.