The Latest Breaking News from Dame Vera Baird

This is a grave wrong that has been allowed to fester for too long

Dame Vera’s public intervention on indefinite jail sentences is an unusual but necessary one, as official redress is long overdue

The Independent UK · Aug 9

Urgent call for PM to end the hidden injustice in British prisons

JAILED WITHOUT HOPE: FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE: Exclusive: As judges begin to overturn indefinite jail terms handed to children and young people – and hundreds more cases are being reviewed – Vera Baird, chair of the miscarriages of justice watchdog, demands that Andy Burnham take ‘wholesale’ action to address the scandal.…

The Independent UK · Aug 9

Teen trapped for 20 years on indefinite jail term should have served 18 months, judges rule

Jay Davis is among six prisoners languishing on IPP jail terms to have their sentences quashed last week

The Independent UK · Apr 28

Labour to give police emergency powers to charge domestic abuse suspects

Crime crackdown plan also gives victims of rape and sexual assault the right to specialist support throughout justice process

The Guardian - UK · Mar 22, 2024

‘Inevitable’ prison spaces will run out as judges ‘delay sentencings’ to avoid overwhelming system

Exclusive: Ministers playing ‘game of brinksmanship’ with prison places, governors association warns

The Independent UK · Oct 12, 2023

UK’s ‘broken’ criminal justice system is in ‘chaos’, former victims’ tsar warns

Exclusive: Dame Vera Baird accuses ministers of seeking to avoid criticim of ‘poor’ policies by failing to appoint new victims commissioner

The Independent UK · Oct 3, 2023

Record number of trials adjourned over failure to bring suspects from prison to court

Exclusive: Defendants stuck in custody vans miles from court while victims, witnesses, lawyers and police spend wasted hours awaiting them at ‘untold’ cost

The Independent UK · Sep 27, 2023

Police ask experts to try and recover missing CCTV of woman who claims she was raped in custody

Computer forensics experts asked to try to trace vital footage

The Independent UK · Aug 2, 2023

Home Office treatment of children 'a gift to traffickers' as experts slam 'casual racism'

Former independent commissioners Dame Sara Thornton and Dame Vera Baird accuse the government of victim blaming amid reports of hundreds of children disappearing from hotels housing asylum seekers

Daily Mirror · Feb 22, 2023

Lancashire Police to conduct review over Nicola Bulley investigation after concerns raised

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was 'concerned' that private information about Nicola had been made public as the former victims' commissioner accused the force of making a 'dreadful error'

Chronicle Live · Feb 17, 2023