The Weekly Round Up: Southport Attacker Sentenced, Fault-based Divorce in the ECHR, & Trump Sworn In
27 January 2025
In UK News
Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three children at a dance class in Southport earlier this year, pleaded guilty last week and has been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years. He unexpectedly pleaded guilty to all charges last Monday, including weapons and terrorism offences. Mr Justice Goose stated in his sentencing remarks that Rudakubana’s actions had ‘caused such extreme shock and revulsion that it must be seen as the most extreme level of crime’. Given Rudakubana was 17 when the attack occurred, he cannot legally be sentenced to a whole life order (which would mean he could never be considered for release). Despite the chances being very high that Rudakubana will never be released under his current sentence, some believe the sentence is not harsh enough. Southport MP Patrick Hurley has said the sentence is ‘not severe enough’ and does not ‘reflect the crimes committed’. Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has called for the law to be changed so that whole life orders can be imposed on under 18s. However, a spokesperson for Downing Street said that while they ‘share the public’s disgust’, they are ‘restricted in [their] ability to extend whole life orders by UN laws’ – specifically the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Rudakubana’s sentence has been referred to the Attorney General, who has 28 days to decide whether to ask the Court of Appeal to reconsider it for being ‘unduly lenient’.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights announced on Friday that it is launching an inquiry into transnational repression in the UK. While acknowledging that there is no universal definition, the Committee stated that transnational repression ‘is generally understood to include instances of intimidation, violence and harassment by a state against people in another state’. Lord Alton, launching the inquiry, said: ‘People from countries around the world come to the UK as a place of safety from repression. It is deeply concerning to hear reports that foreign governments are moving beyond their own national borders to persecute people here’. The inquiry seeks to investigate whether the human rights of immigrants in the UK are being respected by foreign governments, and whether the UK should be doing any more to safeguard them. The inquiry is calling for evidence to be submitted over the coming month.
In Other News
Donald Trump was sworn in last Monday as the 47th president of the United States. On his first day in the White House, he signed multiple executive orders he said in his inaugural speech will lead to the ‘complete restoration of America’. Among the orders were ones providing for the US to leave the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Accords, to end birthright citizenship (the guarantee of citizenship to anyone born on US soil), to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and to create a policy that the US only recognises ‘two genders, male and female’. The American Civil Liberties Union has accused the administration of ‘undoing decades of federal anti-discrimination policy’ with these orders. US District Judge John Coughenour has granted a temporary block on the order ending birthright citizenship on the grounds that it is ‘blatantly unconstitutional’. The executive order and any enforcement measures will now be held for the coming 14 days pending further legal proceedings.
In the Courts
The European Court of Human Rights ruled last week in HW v France that France’s divorce laws, which recognise a refusal to engage in sexual relations as grounds for fault in a divorce, constitutes a violation of Article 8 ECHR – the right to respect for private and family life. The case was brought by a French woman after the divorce, which was granted in 2019 by the Versailles Court of Appeal, attributed fault to her on the basis that not having sex with her husband constituted a ‘serious and repeated breach of marital duties and obligations, making it impossible to continue in a state of matrimony’. In judgment, the ECHR objected to the fact that the concept of ‘marital duties’ recognised in French law pays no attention to the importance of consent to sexual relations. The very existence of this fault-based ground infringed upon the right to sexual freedom and bodily autonomy. The Court could not find any possible justification for the interference with the applicant’s Article 8 rights.
Prince Harry has proclaimed a ‘monumental’ legal win after reaching a settlement moments before his lawsuit against Murdoch newspapers was due to return to court last week. The case alleged that Murdoch’s media group, News Group Newspapers, had carried out unlawful information gathering, the principal allegation concerning the phone hacking scandal that came to light in 2006. Prince Harry’s barrister, David Sherborne, said in a statement read outside of court that ‘News UK is finally held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law’. The settlement includes a specific admission of wrongdoing by The Sun newspaper against Prince Harry; a formal apology was issued and read in court. The apology was said to finally take accountability for wrongdoing against not only the Duke of Sussex, but all the other victims of the information scandal whose cases never reached court.
