Regina v Harris: CACD 2003

The trial judge had said to the jury that in cases of purported recognition by the witness of the accused as somebody known to him, an identification would, generally speaking, serve no useful purpose.
Held: He was in error and that the conviction was unsafe. Although the holding of an identification parade in a recognition case put the matter no further from the prosecution point of view, it could be material where the recognition was disputed, since ‘it ignores the possibility of a change of mind and/or a failure to identify the appellant at the identification parade, of which possibility the appellant was, in the end, deprived.’

Judges:

Potter LJ

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Crim 174

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedEbanks (Jurt) v The Queen PC 16-Feb-2006
(Jamaica) The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder saying that identification evidence had been wrongly admitted and also if that appeal failed against the sentence of death. Though the witness knew the defendant, an identification . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 February 2022; Ref: scu.238746