The Appeal Court has overturned the conviction of a police officer convicted of an off-duty assault. The complainer had for no apparent reason verbally abused the accused inside a licence premises. The complainer then assaulted the accused outside the pub by punching him on the face. The complainer and the accused were separated and the complainer continued to hurl verbal abuse at the accused. The accused walked towards the complainer and they ended up grabbing each other and punches were exchanged.

The Sheriff rejected that accused had acted in self defence and accepted the evidence of the complainer that he had been kicked by the accused on the face. The Appeal Court found there was “no indication by the Sheriff of the basis upon which he rejected the self defence”. The appeal court considered that the complainer had made statements to police officers investigating the incident that were inconsistent with his evidence in Court. The Appeal Court found that the Sheriff had erred in convicting the accused and quashed the conviction.

Link to the Opinion of the Appeal Court - http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinions/2012HCJAC67.html.

New article from Levy & McRae available to download - Victims of Cyber Crime - Note on Remedies (PDF, 328kb).

Bullying, harassment, defamation and stalking; words often used to describe the mental, and sometimes physical assault carried out by a perpetrator who relentlessly and unwantedly breaks into the life of a victim to attack their character.

Sadly this type of behaviour has become somewhat of a growth industry in recent times, in no small part due to the prevalence of social media sites, message boards, blogging sites and email facilitating cyber crime. By using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones, it has become far easier to remain anonymous and contact people previously beyond reach.

Victims often feel frightened, tormented and threatened by this, often persistent, behaviour which can cause considerable upset and worry to the individual, family members, employer and/or company.

This note outlines some of the criminal and civil remedies currently available to those individuals and companies who feel they have been victimised by this type of behaviour and which Levy & McRae can assist in securing against the perpetrators.

The contents of George Osborne’s third Budget were so well rehearsed by politicians, pundits and papers that the real thing threatened to be an anti-climax. One wag tweeted that the Budget was replaced by a Chancellor’s review of the morning’s newspapers.

Was there anything left that the Chancellor could surprise us with, especially as he had such little fiscal room for manoeuvre? The answer was both yes and no. After all the rumours about 50%, 45% or even 47% income tax, Mr Osborne decided to make the change to 45% from April 2013. His 2013/14 increase in the personal allowance allowed him to start phasing out the age allowance – an unexpected revenue-raising ploy.

The stamp duty land tax increase for homes valued at £2 million or more was well telegraphed, and accompanied by some unexpectedly severe anti-avoidance provisions that could affect existing owners. The impact of the child benefit removal for higher earners was softened by increasing the threshold and phasing it in.

However, people with very large incomes could be pained by the proposed new limit on total income tax reliefs. Businesses should be pleased with the predicted reduction in corporation tax rates and the surprise uplift in the enterprise management incentive (EMI) limit. There were many anti-avoidance provisions including proposed consultation on a general anti-abuse rule.

You can download the Full Budget Summary here.

Budget highlights

• Personal allowance to be increased to £9,205 in 2013/14, and the higher rate threshold reduced by £1,025 to £41,450.

• Age allowance to be frozen from 2013/14 and then phased out.

• Limit on maximum amount of income tax reliefs that can be claimed from 2013/14.

• Additional rate of income tax reduced to 45% from 2013/14.

• 7% SDLT rate for residential properties valued at over £2 million and new measures to counter ownership through corporate entities.

• No changes to main pensions tax reliefs.

• Restrictions on the tax relief available on benefits from regular premium life assurance policies.

• Child benefit to be phased out where income is over £50,000.

• Corporation tax main rate cut to 24% from April 2012 and to 22% by April 2014.

• Voluntary cash basis based on turnover for tax on profits of small unincorporated businesses.

• An increase from £120,000 to £250,000 in the individual grant limit for EMI schemes.

• A further tightening of the car benefit rules through to 2016/17.

We hope that this summary proves useful and, if any of the areas discussed seem likely to have an impact on your personal or corporate plans, we would urge you to contact us so that we can help guide you.

Best wishes

Yours sincerely

Levy & McRae

Inflation rates are set to fall, but the past damage remains.

What is happening to inflation?

Annual inflation reached 5.6% last September, based on the retail prices index (RPI). That was its highest level since June 1991. Inflation has since started to drift back, falling to 4.8% in December, and the general expectation is that the fall will continue well into 2012. (more…)

With the prospect of tax cuts increasingly distant, year-end tax planning has become more relevant than ever in cutting your contribution to the Exchequer.

Chancellor George Osborne’s past two Budgets have introduced a wide range of tax changes, some of which have yet to take full effect. These changes mean that the checklist for year-end tax planning in 2011/12 is not the same (more…)

To qualify, the property will need to be available for commercial letting as holiday accommodation for at least 210 days during the tax year and must be commercially let as holiday accommodation for 105 days. Currently the limits are 140 days and 70 days, (more…)

The world of pensions continues to change rapidly, with more changes from April and further announcements from the Government

Contracting out
If you are currently contracted out of the state second pension (S2P) via a personal pension or a money purchase occupational scheme, your contracting out will end automatically on 5 April 2012. The funds built up in your private pension arrangement will remain, (more…)

Many couples waste all or part of the allowance because income is concentrated in one partner’s hands.

There has been talk that the allowance will be made at least partially transferable, but government finances rule out such an expensive reform any time soon. In the meantime, why not ask us to review whether you can improve the use of your allowances? (more…)

The notion that economic growth is good and lack of growth is bad is one of the few things politicians seem to agree on. But for investors, the emphasis on growth can be misleading.

For example, China remains the strongest ‘growth story’ among major economies, with gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2011 estimated by the World Bank at 9.1%. Yet over this period the Chinese stock market was down 16%. In contrast, the US, with average GDP growth over the same period of 1.7%, saw its stock market rise by 8%.
(more…)

The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement had a few surprises to set against the gloomy economic forecasts.

The Autumn Statement, together with a raft of draft legislation issued a week later, has revealed a good slice of what will be in the spring Budget. There is still likely to be the odd rabbit-out-of-the-hat, which all Chancellors find difficult to resist, but the broad outline is clear.
(more…)

Smaller businesses are under the cosh, with many battling reduced sales and squeezed funding. Although premiums involve outlay, business protection makes more sense than ever.

For partnerships and shareholders, cover can mean the difference between survival and failure if one of the shareholders or partners dies or becomes critically ill. If no insurance is in place, remaining partners or shareholders will need to raise funds themselves – and that’s not easy in the current climate, when banks are barely lending and liquidating a property may be impossible.
(more…)

There is another change to company car taxation due in April.

2012/13 will see the introduction of a new set of company car tax scales originally announced a while ago by the then-Chancellor Alistair Darling. No, that’s not an error: the change was revealed as part of the 2009 Pre-Budget Report and legislated for in the following year’s Finance Act.
(more…)

It’s bonus season again, and bonuses are a contentious subject around the turn of the year.

There is a widespread view that in some areas of the financial world, notably investment banks, bonuses are too high. However, in another financial area – with-profits policies – many people believe that they are too small.
(more…)

We are delighted to bring to your attention the rankings for Levy & McRae in Chambers UK 2012. To view our firm’s rankings and editorial please Click Here.

The firm has continued to excel in 2011 with some significant results for our clients. In the continuing economic uncertainty, it is important that you have a trusted, skilled and adaptive practitioner in your corner. We look forward to continuing to meet our clients’ objectives in 2012.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Colin’s father Jimmy McRae said: “We still believe we will never know what caused the crash but we were never in any doubt as to Colin’s prowess as a fine pilot. Everybody knows from Colin’s rallying career that safety is always an issue and that his reactions and eye and hand co-ordination were world class.”

“The McRae family and the Crown sought a finding that private aircraft should be fitted with a flight data recorder. Had a flight recorder been fitted to the aircraft, it may have been possible to determine what occurred in the final seconds of the flight and what actually caused the helicopter to crash. This would prevent uncertainty as to the cause of the crash and allow lessons to be learned from tragic accidents such as this.”

Mr McRae added: “The past four years have been extremely difficult for all the families concerned and we hope that now we can move forward.”

The McRae family’s solicitor, Mr Peter Watson, one of the UK’s most experienced legal experts in the field of air crashes, said: “Although Colin’s licence was out of date this played no contributory factor whatsoever to the accident.”

The McRae family request privacy and will not be making further comment.
For further information contact:
Gary McQueen at Media House on 0141 220 6040 / gary@mediahouse.co.uk