Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics
Award-winning UK podcast covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political present and future.
Episodes
Listeners’ Postbag: Releasing PC Harper’s Killers, New Ministers, and the French Way of Dying
Andy Burnham’s decision to pause the emergency early release scheme in order to ensure that the killers of PC Andrew Harper do not benefit from it, is an act of political desperation given the data showing that the UK prison system is at bursting point and can't cope with the rising prison population without a significant, rapid reduction in those currently imprisoned (https://www.instituteforgove
Making Sense of Murder: The Law Commission Proposes Radical Reforms to UK Homicide Law
The Law Commission for England and Wales is currently consulting on reform of the antiquated common law of homicide (murder and manslaughter) with a view to addressing long-standing criticisms that the current legal system is outdated, overly complex and fails accurately and fairly to distinguish between varying degrees of culpability (https://lawcom.gov.uk/project/law-of-homicide/).
On Double
Andy Burnham, Law and UK Justice: What’s in Store?
The Burnham purge of the Cabinet has resulted in radical personnel changes in the Ministry of Justice and among the Law Officers, with the departures of David Lammy, Lord Hermer KC, Baroness Levitt KC and Lord Timpson. Their replacements are all less experienced legally and politically, less well known and consequently lacking in political weight.
To discuss the implications of these developmen
Losing Control of AI Under Trump: Will the EU Fight Back? Plus the Court of Appeal Turns on the Attorney General
In this episode of Double Jeopardy, the 12th June decision of the Trump administration to issue an export control directive forcing AI giant Anthropic to suspend access to its new AI tool Fable 5 "by any foreign national including one in the USA" on the basis of national security concerns triggered a huge current affairs debate in the EU about AI sovereignty, with former French PM Attal likening t
Prince Harry versus The Daily Mail: Whitewash or Fiasco?
Reaction to the damning judgment handed down by Mr Justice Nicklin on 7th July (https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/lawrence-and-others-v associated-newspapers-limited/) dismissing the privacy and unlawful information gathering claims brought by Prince Harry and six other well known individuals against the Daily Mail publishers has been sharply divided. In an extraordinary, potentially reckless sta
When Justice Goes Rogue: Can the Criminal Cases Review Commission do its Job?
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is a vital cog in the UK legal system but both before and after the catalogue of failures in handling of the Andrew Malkinson case were laid out in great detail in Chris Henley KC’s 2024 Report (https://cdn.websitebuilder.service.justice.gov.uk/uploads/sites/5/2024/10 henleyreport.pdf) it was widely regarded as an institution in permanent crisis, badly m
Memories of Brexit, the Palestine Action Appeal, and Reforming the Law of Homicide
With the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum upon us, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC begin the episode with a reminder of actor Danny Dyer’s memorable thoughts on “this whole Brexit thing” and his unflattering assessment of David Cameron’s role in enabling our departure from the EU, before they reflect on what the impact of Brexit has been on the UK legal system.
Ken and Tim then discu
Free Speech, SLAPPs, and the Public Interest. Plus- Keir Departs
Last week two parallel Private Bills were introduced in the House of Commons and House of Lords by Baroness Stowell of Beeston and Sir John Whittingdale MP (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4163) with the aim of expanding the existing law to tackle so-called SLAPP litigation – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – defined by the Solicitors Regulation Authority as “a misuse of the lega
Listeners’ Postbag: The Fordingbridge Rapes, Jeremy Bamber, and Palestine Action
The last three episodes of Double Jeopardy covering the media ban on convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber, the Fordingbridge rape sentences and the murder of Henry Nowak have generated big audiences and plenty of comments and questions from listeners. And so in this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC respond to a range of listeners’ questions including – why bother to debate the rights an
The Murder of Henry Nowak
The bodycam footage released by the Hampshire Constabulary following the conviction of Vickrum Singh Digwa depicts the moments immediately following the stabbing by Digwa of 18 year old Henry Nowak in Southampton on 3rd December 2025. Influenced by Digwa’s lying claims that Henry had racially abused and assaulted him, officers treated Henry as a suspect rather than a victim and initially ignored h
The Fordingbridge Rape Sentences: The Dilemma of Sentencing Children for Serious Crime.
The non-custodial Youth Rehabilitation Orders handed down by Judge Nicholas Rowland at Southampton Crown Court on 21st May 2026 on 3 teenage boys (aged 14 and 13 at the date of their crimes) for the gang rape of two lone girls aged 14 and 15 in Fordingbridge, Hampshire in 2024 and 2025 has triggered a major public outcry, generating public intervention by the Prime Minister and a decision by Attor
Jeremy Bamber and a Free Press: UK Justice Turns Out the Lights
Why has the Prison Service banned the convicted murderer Jeremy Bamber from any contact with the media, whether by letter, email, phone calls or face to face visits? And is such a ban lawful? Bamber was convicted in October 1986 of the cold-blooded murders of his adoptive parents, Neville and June Bamber, his adoptive sister Sheila Caffell and Sheila’s 6 year old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas, mak
The Road to Chisinau - Politics and the ECHR plus Tackling State Threats to the UK
After a year of political pressure from a growing number of Member States concerned to counter populist anti-ECHR rhetoric over asylum, illegal migration and deportation of foreign criminals, the 46 members of the Council of Europe issued the Chisinau Declaration on 15th May 2026 (https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/council-of-europe-foreign-ministers-adopt-political-declaration-on-the-echr-and-mi
Failing to Face Down Fraud: Does the SFO Have a Future?
Is the Serious Fraud Office “on the ropes” as the headline in a recent Financial Times article declared? Was the former anti-corruption tsar Ken Clarke right in 2014 when he told SFO Director David Green that he had “always thought the SFO was a load of crap”? And if so, why is it that the UK is so poor at investigating financial crimes in comparison with other countries?
Does the recent announ
Iran - Trump’s Permanent War?
On 21st April, almost two months since the US launched Operation Epic Fury “to destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy Iran’s navy and other security infrastructure” and “finally ensure that Iran will never have nuclear weapons”, the Office of the Legal Adviser to the State Department issued a detailed justification of the legality of the attack, asserting t
AI, Hallucinations, and the Law
How far away is the reality of an artificial "legal brain” thanks to the extraordinary speed of developments in AI? With the CEOs of the key frontier labs (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepMind) predicting that “lift off” (meaning the point at which AI is sufficiently autonomous to improve itself faster than humans can improve it) may be here within 1-2 years what are the implications for the law and the re
Mandelson’s Vetting in Wonderland, and Victory for the Assisted Dying Filibuster
With numerous former senior civil servants attacking Keir Starmer for his decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins – former Cabinet Secretary Lord Gus O'Donnell says the sacking “risks having a serious and sustained chilling effect on serving and prospective civil servants” - Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC examine the claim by those defending Robbins that he was forbidden by law from disclosing to Star
Kathleen Stock on the Right to Die, Freedom, Death, and Mercy
With Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill apparently doomed to extinction thanks to the co-ordinated efforts of a handful of Peers determined to ensure it cannot complete scrutiny in the House of Lords, the future looks bleak for any form of assisted dying legislation to become law in the UK any time soon.
To discuss the arguments for and against the Leadbeater Bill, Ken an
Prisons in the UK: Violence, Drugs, Squalor, and a Glimmer of Hope
On 19th March 2026 the Chief Inspector of Prisons issued an Urgent Notification placing Woodhill Prison into special measures (https://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_reports/hmp-woodhill-urgent-notification-2/).
On the same day he published a truly shocking report into HMP Swaleside (https://hmiprisons.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmipris_reports/hmp-swaleside-5/), another jail
A World Without Law: Operation Epic Disaster
The 2026 US/Israel war against Iran is a rapidly evolving, multi-front war. What started as a massive joint air campaign (Operation Epic Fury) and involved the execution of Ayatollah Ali Khameini and some 40 other senior Iranian leaders and key military commanders has expanded into a regional confrontation involving cyber warfare, energy blockades and direct missile exchanges without any current
Listeners’ Postbag: Iran, Juries, and Too Many Lawyers
With world events continuing to dominate the domestic news agenda, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC respond to a range of listeners’ questions generated by recent episodes.
What explains the huge gap which has emerged between the broad consensus among international lawyers that the US/Israel attack on Iran was illegal and the mild or even supportive reactions given to Operation Epic Fury by
Lammy Sets Out His Stall - Will Justice Be The Loser?
Undaunted by near unanimous opposition from the legal profession, the Government last week published the Courts and Tribunals Bill which, if enacted, will mean that roughly half of cases currently tried by juries will be decided either by magistrates or a single Crown Court Judge. And to discuss the content and implications of the bill, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by the Chief Exec
Iran - Bombing International Law?
With Operation Epic Fury, the US/Israel attack on Iran, triggering reprisals by Iran that risk the stability of the entire Gulf Region, what are the shifting international law justifications for the initial attack? And was the Starmer/Hermer explanation for the UK’s cautious approach to involvement in “offensive” action an example of weakness or wise restraint?
To answer these and other questi
What is Misconduct in Public Office? And the US Supreme Court Bites Back
Is Misconduct in Public Office “one of the most notoriously difficult offences to define in England and Wales” as the Law Commission observed in its 2020 Report into the history of the offence? And what reforms are needed for it to satisfy 21st century requirements of legal certainty according to the Commission’s conclusions ?
To answer these and other questions, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen K
Proscribing Palestine Action - Why Was It Unlawful? And Will The Home Secretary Win Her Appeal?
Why did the High Court quash the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation? And what are the prospects of the Home Secretary winning on appeal?
With Ken Macdonald KC refraining from public comment on public order/protest issues while he leads the independent review commissioned by Shabana Mahmood into existing public order and hate crime legislation,
Can Sir Brian Leveson Save the Criminal Justice System?
The second Part of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts was published last week but largely overlooked in light of the Mandelson scandal.
In this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Sir Brian to discuss the details of his mammoth, Part 2 Report and to get his response to the very strong criticisms from both the legal profession, the judiciar
SLAPPS, Filibustering Death, and Juries
What is the future of anti-SLAPP laws in the UK? And what are the implications of the recent High Court Judgment in Hurst v Solicitors Regulation Authority (https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/082-Hurst-v-SRA-002.pdf)in which the SRA was heavily criticised for holding that the experienced Osborne Clarke media solicitor, Ashley Hurst, was guilty of professional misconduct on the ba
Why The Lammy Jury Reforms Won’t Work
Are the Government’s plans to reduce the shameful backlog of some 80,000 cases awaiting trial in the Crown Court built on sand? Is the prediction in Part 1 of Sir Brian Leveson's Independent Review of Criminal Courts reliable?
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Cassia Rowland. Cassia is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government (IFG) and the author of the IFG's Report “Tri
Listeners’ Mailbag: Tariffs, Hunger Strikes and Undermining the Parole Board
In this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss a wide range of issues affecting UK law and politics and answer some listeners’ questions.
Does Elon Musk’s climbdown over Grok’s image generator represent a victory for online safety campaigners and have Ken and Tim been unfair about Ofcom’s record of enforcing the Online Safety Act ?
Will the US Supreme Court’s imminent r
Venezuela, Greenland and The Donroe Doctrine: Power without Law
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton says of President Trump that “the part he likes about the phrase ‘Donroe Doctrine” is the word ‘Don’ - he doesn’t do doctrine” but the abduction of the sitting Venezuelan President Maduro and repeated explicit threats to acquire Greenland, by force if necessary, from Trump, Vance and the increasingly unhinged US Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller
UK Law and Politics 2025-2026: What’s Happened and What’s Coming Next
To start the New Year, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined once again by the UK’s leading legal journalist and author of the daily blog, A Lawyer Writes, Joshua Rozenberg, to review some key issues in UK law and politics during 2025 and to look forward to likely developments in 2026.
Against the background of a polarised, often ill-informed, debate around migration, asylum and Article
Living in the Southern Ocean: Part 2- Empire, Neglect and the Dilemma of the Pitcairn Sex Trials
In Part 2 of their discussion with retired New Zealand High Court Judge and former Chief Crown Prosecutor for Auckland, Simon Moore KC, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss the extraordinary Pitcairn Island sexual abuse trials which took place between 2004-2006 and in which Simon headed the prosecution team. What finally triggered the investigation into what was eventually revealed to be insti
Living in the Southern Ocean: Part 1- Blazing a Trail for Criminal Justice Reform
In Part 1 of a special holiday release of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by the former New Zealand High Court Judge and Chief Crown Prosecutor for Auckland, Simon Moore KC. At a time when comparisons are often made between the Leveson/Lammy proposals and the major reforms to New Zealand criminal justice system in 2011 flowing from its Criminal Procedure Act 2011 and
Mr Lammy Goes to Strasbourg- and our Christmas Listeners’ Postbag on Jury Reforms
As the UK joins 26 other Council of Europe States in calling for a rebalancing of the European Convention on Human Rights as between the individual rights of irregular migrants and the public interest in defending freedom and security, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss the political imperatives which drove Justice Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Lord Hermer to attend a potentiall
Swapping Judges For Juries: Will This Really Be Swifter And Fairer?
Are the Government’s proposals radically to reduce a citizen’s right to trial by jury a “swift and fair plan to get justice for victims”, as the MoJ press release declared on 2nd December, or a poorly conceived, confused and untested set of measures which will have no real impact on the Crown Court backlog or the general, long term crisis that afflicts our once admired criminal justice system?
Are the Courts Flinching on Article 8? And Who’s Trying to Kill the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Lords?
Does the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in the Palestinian Family case of IA & others v. Home Secretary - https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IA.MediaSummary.Final_.pdf - indicate that the Judges are submitting to the political pressure to weaken the protection that Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights provides for the concept of “family life”?
In asserting tha
Is the Right To Jury Trial Just History? And is the House of Lord’s Assisted Dying Filibuster an Attack on Democracy?
As the Courts Minister, Sarah Sackman, announces the Government’s intention to enact most of the recommendations in Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, including the abolition of the right to jury trial in cases of serious, complex fraud, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss the devastating attack on Leveson’s justification for Judge alone fraud trials launched by th
Trump Versus The BBC, and Shabana Mahmood’s Asylum Crackdown
Is Trump’s threat to sue the BBC for $1billion in a Florida Court over the Panorama documentary just another example of his baseless, abusive use of the Courts to intimidate media companies? And should the BBC submit to his intimidation given the uncertainties of a Florida jury trial?
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by leading media law Silk, Gavin Millar KC, to discuss what went
Labour Goes To Denmark - And Why Are We Releasing Prisoners By Mistake?
Is Shabana Mahmood’s proposed overhaul of immigration policies, modelled on Denmark’s stringent system, likely to go too far? As the Justice Secretary sends officials to Denmark to study its famously strict asylum rules, is there a danger that a tougher approach will simply risk the Labour party losing votes to the Greens and Crobyn on its left? Or might a less liberal approach save Labour from Re
Emily Thornberry and the Great China Spy Trial Mystery
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, to discuss the evidence given to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy by key individuals involved in the decisions to prosecute and ultimately abandon the Chinese Spying case (R v Cash and Berry).
In a highly unusual public examination of the collapse of a poli
Lifting the Lid on the Home Office: Crashed, Repaired, or Still Unfit for Purpose?
Does Shabana Mahmood, like Dominic Cummings before her, believe that the Home Office is a broken, dysfunctional bureaucratic institution that needs a radical overhaul?
In this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss these and other questions with the former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent and former adviser to Yvette Cooper, Danny Shaw. The trio respond to the publication of th
Why Did The Chinese Spying Case Really Collapse? Double Jeopardy Receives a Leaked Copy of the Defence’s Expert Report and an Exclusive Interview With Its Author, Professor Kerry Brown (who was not the source of the leak!)
With the China spying case continuing to generate headlines, mystery and yet more uncertainty surrounding the true reason for the DPP’s decision to drop charges against Chris Cash and Chris Berry under the Official Secrets Act 1911, and Double Jeopardy having been sent an anonymously leaked copy of his expert witness statement, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC secure an exclusive interview with Pr
Can Jenrick Go Any Lower? Plus Palestine Action, Chinese Spying and Burning the Koran
In the wake of Robert Jenrick’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference likening Attorney General Lord Hermer KC to a “Mafia lawyer”, accusing him and Keir Starmer of treason in relation to the Chagos Islands agreement and calling for the sacking of “activist” Judges together with the return of political appointments to our judiciary, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC ask whether Jenrick’s dis
ECHR Rights, Cruelty, Chinese Whispers, and the Tyranny of Tech Bros in UK Politics
After a brief explanation for the non-appearance of last week’s episode (severe back pain and hard-core painkillers) Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC review Reform’s rapidly evaporating policy agenda, Keir Starmer’s rhetorical revival and Kemi Badenoch’s predictable decision to dump the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal the Human Rights Act having taken legal advice from Lord Wolfson
Lucy Letby’s Trial Strategy Under the Spotlight, Why the Chinese Spy Case Collapsed, and Meta’s New Low
With Parliament in recess till mid-October, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC reflect on a number of issues which have dominated the headlines over the past week.
After a brief apology from Tim for misquoting in last week’s episode Lord Hermer’s evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee on the issue of reform of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Ken and Tim discuss w
Peter Mandelson, Graham Linehan, Palestine Action, and the Nastiness of Elon Musk
The recent mass arrests at Palestine Action protests, Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, the turmoil generated by the sacking of Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson and the political fall-out from the arrest of Graham Linehan all contribute to a mood of crisis in UK law and politics. Can a weakened and wounded Government reverse the tide?
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC begin with an obi
Small Boats and the Irresistible Rise of Reform UK: Can the Refugee Convention Survive?
Unpack one of the most dramatic moments in the life of the Labour government so far: Angela Rayner’s resignation, a sweeping cabinet reshuffle, and Shabana Mahmood’s arrival as Home Secretary. With David Lammy moved to Justice and Yvette Cooper shifted to the Foreign Office, what does this signal for immigration, asylum, and criminal justice reform?
To explore the current events in UK politics,
Mr Farage Goes To Washington: The Truth About The ECHR
Does the ECHR really block the UK’s ability to implement effective immigration/asylum policies? And why is Nigel Farage doing his best to persuade the foreign US government and its increasingly far right tech bro cronies, to bully the UK over the Online Safety Act, so recently passed by Parliament? And how does this behaviour align with his loudly professed patriotism and promotion of British sove
Farage, Tolerating Torture, and Mass Deportations: Dragging U.K. Justice into Uncharted Waters?
Can the UK tighten its asylum policies without abandoning its commitments to human rights?
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal commentary on the Bell Hotel Judgment and its far-reaching impact on the government’s asylum policy. They examine the legal reasoning, the clash between local and central government, and the Court of Appeal challenge now underway. The conversation also
Holiday Postbag: Lucy Connolly, Lucy Letby, the Leveson Review and Two-Tier Justice
Is Chris Philp’s tweet about the different outcomes in the Lucy Connolly/Ricky Jones cases simply moronic and embarrassing or something more sinister? What do the ITV and Panorama documentaries tell us about the safety of Lucy Letby’s convictions? What could potentially derail some of Sir Brian Leveson’s proposals for radical reform of the right to trial by jury? What impact will the Supreme Court
Is Our Government Any Good? Palestine Action, Shabana Mahmood, and Foreign Prisoners in UK Jails
In this week’s episode of Double Jeopardy, hosts Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen are joined once again by an old friend of the podcast, the award-winning, former BBC, journalist and crime and justice commentator Danny Shaw. Together, they dive into the legal, political, and social repercussions faced by Palestine Action supporters following mass arrests in the wake of the decision to proscribe Palestin
LIBOR, Farage’s Cure for Lawless Britain, and Palestine Action in the Dock: UK Justice Goes on Trial
What happens when the criminal justice system gets it wrong and takes years to admit it? And what does it say about the state of UK law when protestors are labelled terrorists while populists call for military-built prisons?
From the Supreme Court’s critical judgment in the high-profile legal case against the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) traders calling out systemic failure in the app
Super Injunctions, Afghanistan, and UK Law
Is it ever justified for the Government to secure a superinjunction in the face of a perceived risk to the life and limb of countless individuals caused by human error? A catastrophic data leak in February 2022 exposed over 18,000 Afghan applicants for resettlement in the UK to violent retribution by the Taliban and a superinjunction granted in August 2023 prevented Parliament and the public from
Sir Brian Leveson and Criminal Justice: A Requiem For Jury Trials in England and Wales?
The UK criminal justice system is facing an existential threat with court backlogs surging, trial complexity increasing, and decades of chronic underfunding pushing the system to the edge of collapse. Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Sir Brian Leveson to discuss the findings of his landmark independent review of the criminal courts.
The discussion explores proposals to overhaul
Lucy Letby: Will She Waive Privilege as UK Prosecutors Widen the Net?
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is reviewing new allegations against Letby herself, alongside claims of corporate failings that could amount to corporate manslaughter. As police investigate, questions are mounting about accountability at the highest levels of the health system and beyond. As police escalate their investigation into the National Health Service (NHS) leadership, three former sen
Bombing Iran: Self-Defence or a Lawless Attack?
Has the United States & Israel broken international law by bombing Iran?
Or was it an act of Self-Defence?
Professor Marko Milanovic, a leading expert in international law joins Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC to assess the legality of the recent Israeli and US military actions against Iranian nuclear facilities.
From Article 51 of the UN Charter to the legacy of the Caroline Doctrine,
When UK Law and Politics Collide: Abortion, Assisted Dying, and Bombing Iran
How should members of Parliament decide matters of life and death? In the midst of passionate public debate, Parliament has begun to rewrite the legal boundaries around abortion and assisted dying, but what does that mean for the future of UK law? And has the United States broken international law by bombing Iran?
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC explore the shifting lines of morality, medicin
Politics and Money in UK Justice: Juries, Abortion and the Double Jeopardy Postbag
What happens when a justice system is asked to do more with less and at what cost to fairness, freedom, and the rule of law?
Crime and justice commentator Danny Shaw appears on the show to examine the political and legal fallout from the UK government’s spending review. With stretched police forces, an underfunded probation service, and mounting pressure on the courts and the prisons, how can
UK Politics and Bad Science: Investigating the Graveyard Spiral of Forensic Science in England and Wales
Is Britain still a world leader in forensic science or are we sleepwalking into a criminal justice crisis?
Once considered the gold standard, the UK’s forensic science system is not working well for anyone – not for the police, not for the suppliers of services, not for the courts and, by extension, not for the public. Yet we all believe it to be a critical tool that we can rely upon to bring
David Gauke: Solving the UK Prison Crisis
Why does Britain lock up so many people and is there a better way?
The UK has the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe, yet reoffending remains rampant and prisons are at breaking point. What’s gone wrong in our approach to crime and punishment - and is the public ready for a smarter, more effective system?
Former Justice Secretary David Gauke, chair of the Independent Sentencing R
State Threats and Subversion: Keeping UK Politics Clean
What if your political beliefs on Brexit, climate change or even gender identity were being subtly shaped by a foreign power?
From hostile state actors exploiting social media to the legal grey zone between terrorism and subversion, Jonathan Hall KC, the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism and State Threat Legislation joins Double Jeopardy to unpack the expanding world of national security,
100th Episode of Double Jeopardy - Terminating the Cruelty of Victorian Era Abortion Laws: The Campaign to Decriminalise Abortion Across the UK
In three of the four nations of the UK, abortion remains a crime under legislation passed in 1861, subject to the exemptions from criminal liability in the Abortion Act 1967. Paradoxically, abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019, so that it is now seen as a matter of healthcare rather than the criminal law. Recent prosecutions in England under section 58 of the Offences Against t
Debating the Rule of Law in the UK: Hermer versus Wolfson
The clash between David Wolfson KC’s “thin” interpretation of legal principle and Attorney General Richard Hermer’s “thick” is explained through the experienced legal eyes of Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC on this episode of Double Jeopardy.
They dig into the political implications of these contrasting views, the role of parliamentary sovereignty, how the UK navigates its obligations under i
Reforming Criminal Appeals and Righting the Wrongs of UK Justice
Given the gross miscarriages of justice exposed by the Post Office/Horizon scandal, the extraordinary delay in reversing the wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson due to repeated failures by the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the continuing calls for the case of Lucy Letby to be referred back to the Court of Appeal, is the criminal appeal system in need of fundamental reform?
Connecting
Authoritarians Against Lawyers: Political Attacks on the Rule of Law
As support for populist movements grows, judicial independence and the rule of law are increasingly under attack. Lawyers around the world are becoming front-line defenders of democracy - and paying the price. Double Jeopardy hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC explain the situation with expert legal commentary and legal system insights.
Renowned international lawyer Robert Amsterdam joins th
Womanhood Defined: The UK Supreme Court Puts Biology and Science at the Heart of UK Discrimination and Human Rights Law and Transforms the Approach of UK Politics to Adult Human Females
What does the law say about who counts as a woman - and who gets to decide? Unpacking the UK Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the definition of “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 and Gender Recognition Act is guest Karon Monaghan KC, one of the UK’s leading employment and discrimination law barristers. See here for a link to the judgment.
The discussion of this high-profile legal case tackles
Fake News on Asylum, The Battle to Define Human Rights Law, and Labour’s New UK Politics
What happens when political leaders and media outlets misrepresent court decisions, and how does this impact judicial independence and public trust in the UK legal system?
A range of high-stakes UK law and UK politics issues that have dominated headlines recently are tackled in this listener-driven postbag edition of Double Jeopardy. Hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC begin with a scathing an
Disclosure, Artificial Intelligence, and Modernising UK Criminal Justice: Will the Fisher Report Have Any Real Impact on Collapsed Trials and the Crumbling UK Justice System?
What happens when the very foundation of criminal justice - the prosecution disclosure process to the defence - fails to meet modern demands?
This episode focuses on the Fisher Report, a groundbreaking review that addresses the critical issues surrounding prosecution disclosure in complex criminal trials, a key issue in the ongoing criminal justice crisis in the UK.
Ken Macdonald KC and Tim O
Two Tier Justice, Mass Migration, and a Pound Shop Trump in the UK Parliament
Is the UK heading toward a constitutional clash over crime and justice?
Exploring a wide range of pressing issues, from the government’s proposed emergency legislation to override revised sentencing guidelines, to the implications of an international summit on organised migration crime. Examining the complexities of asylum claims, the growing controversy around Article 8 of the Human Rights Act
Lucy Letby’s Victims Strike Back: Identification Evidence, Miscarriages of Justice and Legal System Insights into How UK Juries Reach their Verdicts
Exploring the high-profile Lucy Letby case, and the dangers of relying too heavily on identification evidence, this episode of Double Jeopardy raises critical concerns about the ban on jury research and how it hampers efforts to improve the criminal justice system through controlled academic study.
As expert legal commentators, Tim Owen KC and Ken Macdonald KC unpack the importance of pre-senten
Judicial Independence, Human Rights Law and Political Hypocrisy: Breaking Down the 6 Page Letter from the Sentencing Council Chair
Is UK criminal justice really heading towards a two-tier sentencing system? A fierce debate has erupted over the Sentencing Council’s new guidance on pre-sentence reports, which highlights the need for greater consideration of certain defendant groups, including ethnic minorities.
Critics argue that this risks creating an uneven playing field, while supporters insist it’s a necessary step toward
Amending the Assisted Dying Bill and the Sentencing Council Under Attack
Should terminally ill adults have the right to decide how and when they die? The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is discussed by Jake Richards MP and hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC.
They talk about the legislative process, from the intricacies of the committee stage to the broader implications of the private members' bill system.
The discussion also focuses on the historical e
Labour’s Criminal Justice: Performance or Reality?
Is tougher legislation the answer to crime, or is it just more political posturing?
The Government’s monster new Crime and Policing Bill promises to crack down on antisocial behaviour, knife crime, and retail theft. But is any of this really necessary, or is it just another example of performative lawmaking?
This episode unpacks the bill’s sweeping powers, the political motivations behind it,
Why Sentencing is Out of Control
Why is UK penal policy failing so badly?
This week, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by former Secretary of State for Justice David Gauke, who has just published Part 1 of his Independent Review into Sentencing. In the face of falling crime, why do we have the highest prison population in Western Europe, and why can’t we reduce our expensive addiction to incarceration?
The discussi
Immigration, Asylum and Liberal Democracy
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
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 a
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’
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 challenge
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 20
Foreign Interference in the Age of TikTok and Musk
In this episode of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC engage in a thought-provoking discussion with their guest, Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and state threats. Together, they examine the implications of Elon Musk's influence on UK politics, the challenges posed by foreign interference, and the far-reaching impact of the National Security Act.
