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New drinking laws will end in violence, warn judges (Richard Ford and Stewart Tendler, 8/10/05, Times of London)

JUDGES in England and Wales have warned government ministers to expect a huge increase in rapes, domestic violence and serious assaults as a result of the relaxation of drinking laws this year.

Senior judges have told the Home Office to expect incidences of alcohol-fuelled violent crime to soar when the new law allowing round-the-clock drinking comes into force in November.

A paper from the Council of Her Majesty’s Circuit Judges said: “Those who routinely see the consequences of drink-fuelled violence in offences of rape, grievous bodily harm and worse on a daily basis are in no doubt that an escalation of offences of this nature will inevitably be caused by the relaxation of liquor licensing which the Government has now authorised.”