References: Unreported, 19 May 2004
Coram: Pitchford J
Ratio:(Crown Court at Chester) The judge gave directions as to the effect of witness training: ‘The course was delivered by a member of the Bar I judge to have been well aware of the implications. She took pains to ensure that any witnesses who attended her courses knew of the possible consequences of collusion and she forbade it. No attempt was made to indulge in application of the facts of this case or anything remotely resembling them. True it is that witnesses would have undergone a process of familiarisation with the pitfalls of giving evidence and were instructed how best to prepare for the ordeal. This, it seems to me, was an exercise any witness would be entitled to enjoy were it available. No one engaged in special pleading with a view to gaining any expertise beyond the application of sound common sense.
I do not accept that this training, if such is the correct description, was capable of converting a lying but incompetent witness into a lying but impressive witness. Having considered the course content in some detail it seems to me that witnesses can have gained only a rudimentary understanding of what was to come and received no coaching in how to lend a specious quality to their evidence. What they would have received was knowledge of the process involved. It was lack of knowledge and understanding which created demand for support in the first place. Acquisition of knowledge and understanding has probably prepared them better for the experience of giving evidence. They will be better able to give a sequential and coherent account. None of this gives them an unfair advantage over any other witness. Although ease of manner or confidence in the witness box, if it exists, may be a matter of consideration by a jury, it does not seem to me that the ultimate judgment whether the witness is credible or not will depend on such considerations.’
This case is cited by:
- Cited – Ultraframe (UK) Ltd v Fielding and others ChD (Bailii, [2005] EWHC 1638 (Ch))
The parties had engaged in a bitter 95 day trial in which allegations of forgery, theft, false accounting, blackmail and arson. A company owning patents and other rights had become insolvent, and the real concern was the destination and ownership of . .
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