UNCONVICTED CRIMINALS MADE TO PAY

SUSPECTED drug barons and gang leaders could have their assets seized even
though they have not been convicted of any crime, under radical changes to
the law to be announced today by Jack Straw, the Home Secretary.

In the latest attempt to punish criminal masterminds who evade justice, the
authorities will pursue them through the civil courts. Mr Straw will use
his conference speech to tell Labour that he wants to target the expensive
cars and luxury houses of suspected gang bosses who are sufficiently clever
to remain at one remove from the crimes from which they benefit.

Although the principle of asset seizure is not new, Mr Straw is to extend
it dramatically by allowing courts to punish suspected "Mr Bigs" even
though the Crown Prosecution Service has been unable to convict them of any
crime.

The policy, which has been urged on Mr Straw by senior police chiefs, is
primarily aimed at drug barons but will also be used against money
launderers and the heads of organised crime syndicates. It will be applied
in cases where police do not have sufficient evidence to secure a criminal
conviction but have enough to show that the money to be confiscated
"probably" comes from organised crimes.

Last year UKP25 million was confiscated after criminal convictions for drug
trafficking, but police say that this was only a tiny fraction of the money
made by organised crime.

Under the new proposals, the police would be given the right to pursue
suspected organised crime bosses through the civil courts, where less
evidence is required to secure a successful outcome. They would need to
prove their case only "on the balance of probability" rather than the
higher standard of "beyond reasonable doubt" required in criminal courts.

The new system will be based on the law in Irish civil courts. Police
officers will be required to amass evidence on the suspect's wealth and
prove it exceeds his legal income. The defendant would then be forced to
disprove these claims on the origins of his or her wealth.

One Home Office source said the aim was to bring down the "Mr Bigs who
always keep their hands clean while profiting from others' dirty work".

Although the measure is certain to arouse anger among civil liberty groups,
Tony Blair signalled earlier this week that he had no truck with those
activists who put theoretical rights ahead of tackling the misery of crime.

Mr Straw will also look forward to the publication of the Green Paper on
family policy which is expected to include a number of proposals to bolster
marriage and parenting skills, such as the appointments of "mentors" and
using registrars to direct engaged couples to marriage classes before they
wed.

Our Legal Correspondent writes: The Home Secretary's proposals would
introduce an unprecedented and what many lawyers would regard as a
dangerous principle into British law of allowing courts to confiscate the
property of citizens who have not been convicted of any crime. The move is
certain to be strongly opposed by many lawyer and civil liberty groups
concerned that they would allow the confiscation of property on the
suspicion, however strong, that it is the proceeds of a crime for which
there has been no conviction.

If enacted into law, the provisions can expect to be challenged as giving
rise to breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights which the
Government is in the process of incorporating into the domestic law of the
United Kingdom.

Lawyers will be looking to see if they violate the presumption of innocence
in Article 6(2) of the European Convention and Article 1 of the First
Protocol. This protects the peaceful enjoyment of possessions and provides
that "no one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public
interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the
general principle of international law".