The practice of the Crown Prosecution Service obtaining psychiatric reports on a defendant in all murder cases should be discontinued. If the defence wished to raise or consider in a murder case an issue in relation to the defendant’s mental state there was or should not be any difficulty in obtaining a psychiatrist’s report, usually at public expense, and similarly the Crown would have opportunity if necessary.
Judges:
Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice Bell and Mr Justice Stanley Burnton
Citations:
Times 12-Nov-2001
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Criminal Practice
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.166774