Slow pace of law reforms criticised

People have a constitutional right to clear, accessible laws, the head of the Government’s law reform watchdog said last night.

Sir Terence Etherton, a High Court judge and chairman of the Law Commission, said that civil servants regularly disregarded the need to respond quickly to proposals to reform the law. This failure denied citizens their “constitutional right” to accessible and intelligible laws, he said in the Bar Council’s annual law reform lecture in London. He called for such a right to be included in any proposal out of the “Governance of Britain” Green Paper reforms.

Petrol used at fatal house fire

The deaths of a family of seven who were killed in a house fire on Tuesday are being treated as murder after police found that petrol had been poured into the house in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

The police are treating the shooting of two off-duty police officers, which the Real IRA claims to have carried out, as attempted murder.

Father to stand trial for murder

A British man accused of murdering his son, aged 6, after jumping off a Crete hotel balcony with him in his arms is fit to stand trial, the Greek authorities have ruled. John Hogan, 32, from Bristol, fell 50ft with Liam and his daughter Mia, aged 2, in August last year. Mia survived.

Girl in Bosnia is not Madeleine

The search for Madeleine McCann in Bosnia has been called off after police found that a girl identified by an Irish pilgrim was the daughter of a local family. Tea Dedic’s father, Alen, said he hoped that Madeleine was alive and that his family would pray for her.

£5,280 paid for Lowry’s fag end

An art lover paid £5,280 for an empty packet of Woodbines figuring a sketch in pencil by the artist L. S. Lowry. The doodle shows figures playing football in an industrial landscape. It was treasured by Arthur Delaney, Lowry’s friend, until his death in 1987.

Bonuses to treasure

Bonuses paid to officials at the Treasury and its agencies increased by 70 per cent in Gordon Brown’s final year as Chancellor. The sums paid to civil servants under his control rose to £21.5 million last year, up from £12.7 million. The Treasury was imposing savings on general Civil Service costs in the period.

Asylum-seekers lose

The Home Office has won a landmark ruling against a judgment that would have widened the grounds under which asylum-seekers could stay in Britain. The law lords ruled that the Court of Appeal wrongly overturned a ruling that asylum-seekers should not be sent back to camps in Sudan.

New rifles for snipers

British snipers in Iraq and Afghanistan are to get new high-powered rifles capable of “lethal precision” at distances of more than 1,100 metres. The £11 million programme should make the rifles available for frontline troops by next spring, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, the Defence Procurement Minister, said.

Christmas savings

The Post Office announced plans to launch a Christmas saving scheme to help to fill the gap left by the collapse of the Christmas hamper company Farepak. It will be available from January. Those taking part can save a maximum of £1,000 a year and all money saved will be held in a protected account at the Bank of Ireland.

Actress’s parties

Unacceptable traffic levels cannot be used as a reason to object to an entertainment licence held by the actress Jane Seymour, magistrates in Bath ruled. The three-day hearing into complaints by neighbours of the actress about allnight parties at her Tudor mansion in St Catherine, near Bath, which is used as a wedding and party venue, is due to continue today.

Loner killed jogger

A loner murdered a Harrods worker who was found in a shallow grave on the common where she jogged. The body of Egeli Rasta, 27, was found 12 days after she was killed in July last year. A bloodied kitchen knife was found in Garath Davies’ home in Mitcham, South London. The Old Bailey jury found him guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice.

Counterfeiter jailed

A woman was jailed for six months after selling thousands of pirate films and CDs on the net. Helen Sharkey, 38, from Penrith, Cumbria, offered albums and films not in the shops on eBay for £3. Her operation ran for two years until the Federation Against Copyright Theft bought eight of her DVDs. She admitted 18 charges of breaching trade mark and copyright law.

Marks raises the bra

Marks & Spencer is selling J-cup bras online for the first time, before deciding whether to put them in its stores. Its largest size was previously a G but M&S said there was a demand for bigger sizes. The bestselling bra size at M&S is now 36C, rather than the 34B of five years ago.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Swine flu vaccine for all as drug rushed through
• Artificial sperm and the race to build a baby
• BBC jets out stars to tout for prizes