Legal news in brief - 4 October 2012
Posted: 4 October 2012
Italian footballer Andrea Masiello has been given a suspended sentence for scoring a deliberate own goal.
Masiello was playing for Italian team Bari against Lecce in their final game of the 2010/2011 season when he directed the ball into his own net, dooming Bari to a 2-0 defeat. The result meant that Lecce avoided relegation from Serie A, the top division of the Italian league.
However, Masiello, who is currently a free agent, admitted that he had deliberately scored the own goal. His admission of guilt was enough to save him from jail time, and he will now serve a 22-month suspended sentence.
Lecce were subsequently demoted to Serie B anyway, for their part in match fixing. Bari, who were also relegated, had 7 points deducted the following season.
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An investigation by housing charity Shelter has shown landlord complaints to have increased by 27% in the last three years.
The figures, gleaned by the charity via freedom of information requests to every council in the country, showed that 85,000 complaints were made in the last year alone, 62% of which regarded serious and life-threatening hazards.
The investigation did reveal one positive trend for tenants – successful prosecutions against landlords increased by 77% last year, although Shelter reported that this was largely down to the increased efforts of certain local councils, such as Leeds, Salford, and Manchester.
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A judge has ruled that making a prisoner use a bucket as a temporary toilet does not constitute a violation of their human rights.
The ruling was the result of an appeal brought by Desmond Grant, who is serving time at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight. He was appealing against a ruling last year that dismissed his claim that being made to “slop out” violated his human rights.
However, the judge, Lord Justice Davis, described the claims as “exaggerated”. HMP Albany has communal toilets that prisoners are allowed to visit one at a time to use, even when they are confined to their cells. He also pointed out that prisoners who did slop out were always offered air freshener.
Lord Justice Davis, one of the UK’s most senior judges, commented that it was “unthinkable” that such a case would have been brought before the court in the past, blaming the European Convention on Human Rights.