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 plead guilty and counsel had raised his concerns with the judge before the trial commenced though psychiatric evidence showed that the defendant was fit to plead. Eighteen months later it was alleged that the pleas were unsafe and were out of accord with the evidence proposed to be called to establish that that conviction was in fact unsafe, on the basis that he was of low intelligence, that he had pleaded not as an acknowledgement of guilt but to gain notoriety, his confession evidence was flawed as he had been subjected to a long and remorseless interrogation, there was evidence from inquiries made by The Sunday Times which showed he had alibis.
Held: In some very exceptional cases a defendant who had entered a guilty plea without equivocation might establish that the resultant conviction was unsafe. The court gave leave to hear that evidence, recognising that in such an appeal, the defendant must establish that there is some overriding factor which makes the conviction founded on the unequivocal plea unsafe and unsatisfactory.
Ackner LJ said: ‘The fact that the appellant was fit to plead; knew what he was doing; intended to make the pleas he did; pleaded guilty without equivocation after receiving expert advice; although factors highly relevant to whether the convictions or any of them were either unsafe or unsatisfactory, cannot of themselves deprive the court of jurisdiction to hear the applications.
. . The occasions on which this court will allow evidence to be called after there has been an unequivocal plea of guilty will be very rare. We regard this case, as indeed do both counsel, as wholly exceptional, if not unique.’
Judges:
Ackner LJ
Citations:
[1984] 1 WLR 578, [1984] 1 All ER 1080
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Childs (Aka Greenfield), Regina v CACD 30-Sep-2014
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, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.537538