DESPERATE legal moves were taking place behind the scenes last night as British ministers worked to secure the use of anonymous witnesses.

The body which adjudicates on contentious parades in the North is today looking for a new member after the Law Lords declared the appointment by Peter Hain of one of its members was unlawful.

The European Convention on Human Rights does apply to the case of an Iraqi man who died while in the custody of British troops, the House of Lords ruled today.

INSURANCE king John Charman yesterday failed to stop his former wife receiving £48 million (€71m), the biggest divorce payment in British legal history.

The former Chilean dictator remained stubbornly opposed to any efforts to bring him to trial, writes Chris Moncrieff.

DOCTORS have called for new laws regarding their rights to prescribe contraception to those below the age of consent.

A WOMAN was entitled to £5 million (€732,900) of her former husband’s assets after just two years and nine months of marriage, Britain’s Law Lords ruled yesterday.

JULIA McFARLANE’S QC told the Law Lords earlier this year that she was entitled to £250,000 (€366,000) a year for life because she had put the “spadework” into her 16-year marriage to her husband Kenneth.

Luke Donald has warned British golf fans not to expect to see much of his Ryder Cup partner Sergio Garcia while the tax situation is what it is.

THE Law Lords in Britain yesterday backed a school which banned a Muslim girl from wearing full-length Islamic dress.

Roman Polanski’s libel action over an allegation that he propositioned a woman in the wake of his film star wife’s horrific murder begins at London’s High Court today.

THE spectre of babies being created for “spare parts” was brought closer yesterday, as the British House of Lords declared “designer babies” can be used to treat siblings with genetic disorders.

A 31-HOUR battle over controversial British anti-terror powers ended in the Lords last night when opposition parties accepted a government compromise.

THERE are more than 200 al-Qaida-trained terrorists walking the streets of Britain in a threat which “thrives”, the country’s former police chief warned yesterday.

The British government today signalled it will offer no more significant concessions to critics of its proposals to impose restrictions including house arrest on suspected terrorists.

The indefinite detention without trial of foreign nationals in Britain under emergency terror laws is incompatible with European human rights laws, the UK's Law Lords ruled today.

Sinn Féin go to Britain's House of Lords today to fight a British government decision to deny its MPs thousands of pounds because they refuse to take their seats in the British Parliament.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell scored a legal victory today when the UK's Law Lords upheld her right to “invasion of privacy” damages against the Daily Mirror over a story about her fight against drug addiction.

The report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry may be delayed over the question of access to previously confidential lawyers’ files, it was learned tonight.

A MAIN witness at a murder trial was yesterday given the go-ahead by judges to marry the accused — and now she does not have to give evidence against him.

The naming of Garry Flitcroft completed a successful legal battle by the Sunday People, which has been fighting to identify him for nearly a year.

A married Premier League footballer who had affairs with two women will be exposed tonight after failing in an extraordinary last-ditch plea for his identity to remain secret.

Motor Neurone disease sufferer Diane Pretty is taking her "right to die" fight to the European Court of Human Rights.