In 1979 the defendant had been convicted on his plea, of six murders and subsequently of robbery with 25 similar offences taken into consideration. Now he sought ;eave to appeal bringing evidene of a personality disorder such that nothing he said, including the confessions and pleas he had made to the murders and other offences, could be relied on as truthful, unless corroborated. Co-accused, convicted on the same evidence had in the interim been successful on appeal.
Held: It is clear from what the experts agreed before the hearing that the applicant had in 1979 and thereafter a narcissistic personality disorder and anti-social personality disorder and his score on the psychopathy checklist met a diagnosis of psychopathy. He lied. The appeal was refused. There had been several years delay after he had again confirmed his guilt to the Criminal Cass Review Commission well after the trial. He was persuadable but no more than others, and there had been no suggestion of undue pressure by the investigating officers.
John Thomas, Baron Thomas of Cwmgiedd LCJ, Mitting J, Sir Roderick Evans
[2014] EWCA Crim 1884
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Pinfold, Mackenney v Regina CACD 15-Dec-2003
The appellants challenged their convictions for murder. The convictions had been based substantially upon the evidence of a co-accused who had admitted his part. They now challenged the admission by way of support of the evidence of the co-defendant . .
Cited – Regina v Lee (Bruce) CACD 1984
The court considered an appeal after a plea of guilty to a number of offences of arson and manslaughter, entered on the basis of a mistake of law. The appellant’s counsel had had concerns about this client’s ability to properly decide whether to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.537210