Rhiannon Craft is a professional academic researcher, presenter, and future member of the profession with experience assisting legal practitioners.

In this presentation, Rhiannon begins with short update on the contemporary status of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which remains a vital part of the mechanics of the UK legal system. She then moves on to cover important developments in the Courts which is “must have“ knowledge for anyone working in criminal law. This includes updates impacting both magistrates and crown courts, sentencing guidelines, criminal procedure rules updates, as well as future directions of new legislation and legal aid. This presentation serves as a top up to presentations given in our Autumn conference in 2024.

Key words / Topics

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Proposed Revisions to PACE Codes

Article 5 (1) (c) of ECHR: right to liberty and security of person

Magistrates Courts

Crown Courts

Sentencing guidelines

Criminal Procedure Rules

Pre-Sentence Reports

The Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

Intermediate Courts

Crown Court (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2024 (December 2024)

Changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules made by the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025

Crime and Policing Bill 2024-25

Legal aid funding