Category: Criminal Practice

Regina v Ward and Regina v Keane: 1994

Taylor CJ said: ‘Where the prosecution rely on public interest immunity or sensitivity, given that it is for the court to decide whether disclosure is to be made and the scope of cross-examination, what ought the court’s approach to be? . . the court has to carry out a balancing exercise. As Mann LJ put it in Reg v Governor of Brixton Prison, Ex parte Osman [1991] 1 WLR 281, 288: ‘Suffice it to say for the moment that a judge is balancing on the one hand the desirability of preserving the public interest in the absence of disclosure against, on the other hand, the interests of justice. Where the interests of justice arise in a criminal case touching and concerning liberty . . the weight to be attached to the interests of justice is plainly very great indeed.’

Judges:

Taylor CJ

Citations:

[1994] 1 WLR 746, [1994] 2 All ER 478, (1994) 99 Cr App R 1, [1995] Crim LR 225

Cited by:

Cited – Nunn, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary and Another SC 18-Jun-2014
Limits to Duty To Investigate
The claimant had been convicted of a murder. He continued to protest his innocence, and now sought judicial review of the respondent’s decision not to act upon his requests for further investigations which might prove his innocence.
Held: The . .
Cited – Nunn, Regina (on The Application of) v Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary and Another SC 18-Jun-2014
Limits to Duty To Investigate
The claimant had been convicted of a murder. He continued to protest his innocence, and now sought judicial review of the respondent’s decision not to act upon his requests for further investigations which might prove his innocence.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.551079

Regina v Leicester Crown Court ex parte DPP: 1987

The police had applied for an order granting access to an accused’s bank account. The Judge ruled that the application should be made inter partes. The Director of Public Prosecutions sought judicial review of that ruling. By the time the case came on for hearing the accused had been convicted, so the ruling could have no relevance to that case.
Held: Despite the fact that no order was still required, the court gave a ruling to assist on future applications. A section 9 application as ‘a lis between the party applying and the party against whom the application was made’.

Citations:

[1987] 1 WLR 1371

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 9

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Lewes Crown Court ex parte Hill 1991
Bingham LJ said: ‘The Police and Criminal Evidence Act governs a field in which there are two very obvious public interests. There is, first of all, a public interest in the effective investigation and prosecution of crime. Secondly, there is a . .
Cited – British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 12-Mar-2014
The court was asked as to the powers of Magistrates hearing an application for a search warrant to receive excluded or special procedure material which had not been disclosed to the respondent. The court had overturned an order made by the district . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.538779

Regina v LL: CACD 2011

It came to light that at the trial of the appellant that one juror was a current employee of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in general administrative duties, another was a serving police officer in an administrative and non-operational role, and a third was a former police officer who had retired in 2003. None of them had had any involvement in the case.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The issue was whether the appellant had been tried by an impartial and independent tribunal. Lord Judge said: ‘it would be inconsistent with the current legislative arrangements, for every employee of the CPS to be or to be regarded as excused or disqualified from service on a jury in a trial prosecuted by the CPS. In principle the position of an individual employee of the CPS is fact- and employment- specific, rather than subject to an all-embracing embargo.
We therefore address the facts which we have already summarised. The employee of the CPS who served on the jury cannot be described as a temporary employee of the CPS. She had worked full-time for the CPS for no less than nine years . . In our judgment her service was long enough and of sufficient importance to lead to the conclusion that she fell within the ambit of the prohibition identified by Lord Bingham and Baroness Hale in accordance with the principle which we have described. We also note that she was sitting in contravention of the guidance now issued by the CPS.’

Judges:

Lord Judge CJ

Citations:

[2011] EWCA Crim 65

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Explained – Regina v Abdroikof, Regina v Green; Regina v Williamson HL 17-Oct-2007
The House was asked whether a jury in criminal trials containing variously a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor, or a police officer would have the appearance of bias. In Abdroikof, the presence of the police officer on the jury was discovered only . .

Cited by:

Cited – Kaur, Regina (on The Application of) v Institute of Legal Executives Appeal Tribunal and Another CA 19-Oct-2011
The claimant appealed against rejection of judicial review of a finding that she had effectively cheated at a professional examination for the Institute. She compained that the presence of a director and the council’s vice-president of the Institute . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Natural Justice, Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.446113

Regina v Kray: CACD 1969

Ronald Kray had been convicted of murder on 4th March 1969, and on 15th April 1969 he and a number of others were facing a second indictment charging them with murder and other offences. His counsel sought to challenge prospective jurors for cause on the ground that the previous trial had been extensively reported, and that prejudice to Kray resulting therefrom would be likely to influence the minds of the jurors in the second trial.
Held: Lawton J confirmed the right to report the first trial and said: ‘What is more, the mere fact that a newspaper has reported a trial and a verdict which was adverse to the person subsequently accused ought not in the ordinary way to produce a case of probable bias against jurors empanelled in a later case.’ and ‘The situation, however, is, in my judgment, entirely different when newspapers, knowing that there is going to be later trial, dig up from the past of the convicted who have to meet further charges discreditable allegations which may be either fact or fiction, and those allegations are then publicised over a wide area. This does, in my judgment, lead to a prima facie presumption that anybody who may have read that kind of information might find it difficult to reach a verdict in a fair-minded way. It is, however, a matter of human experience, and certainly a matter of the experience of those who practise in the criminal courts, first, that the public’s recollection is short, and, secondly, that the drama, if I may use that term, of a trial almost always has the effect of excluding from recollection that which went before. A person summoned for this case would not, in my judgment, disqualify himself merely because he had read any of the newspapers containing allegations of the kind I have referred to; but the position would be different if, as a result of reading what he had, his mind had become so clogged with prejudice that he was unable to try the case impartially.’

Judges:

Lawton J

Citations:

[1969] 53 Cr App R 412

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Central Criminal Court ex parte The Telegraph Plc CACD 1993
The court considered the effect of a jury trial in balancing pre-trial prejudicial publicity. Lord Taylor CJ said: ‘In determining whether publication of matter would cause a substantial risk of prejudice to a future trial, a court should credit the . .
Cited – Regina v Stone CACD 14-Feb-2001
The defendant appealed against his conviction in 1998 of murder based on a confession said to have been made to a fellow prisoner on remand. A witness supporting that confession said after the trial that he had lied under police pressure. The appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.441579

Gallacher v HM Advocate: HCJ 1951

The question for the court in answering whether an appeal an appeal should be available when new evidence had emerged was whether it was reasonably satisfied that, if the additional evidence was before the jury, it would not have convicted.

Citations:

1951 JC 38

Cited by:

Cited – Fraser v Her Majesty’s Advocate SC 25-May-2011
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, saying that the prosecution had failed to disclose certain matters.
Held: The appeal succeeded, the conviction was quashed and the case remitted to the Scottish courts to consider . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.440847

Raymond v Attorney General and Others: CA 1982

The power under statute to take over the conduct of private prosecutions includes a power to discontinue those proceedings, to issue a nolle prosequi. The DPP is free to make decisions, even value judgments on his or her assessment of the public interest: ‘Unless his decision is manifestly such that it could not be honestly and reasonably arrived at it cannot, in our opinion, be impugned.’
The word ‘conduct’ is wider than merely to ‘carry on’ the proceedings.

Citations:

[1982] QB 839, [1982] 2 All ER 487, [1982] Crim LR 826, (1982) 75 Cr App R 34, [1982] 2 WLR 849

Cited by:

Cited – Gujra, Regina (on The Application of) v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 9-Mar-2011
The claimant sought judicial review of a decision of the respondent to take over and discontinue his private prosecutions arising from public order incidents, saying that the respondent’s policy was unlawful in restricting such prosecutions.
Cited – Gujra, Regina (on The Application of) v Crown Prosecution Service SC 14-Nov-2012
The appellant had twice begun private prosecutions only to have them taken over by the CPS and discontinued. He complained that a change in their policy on such interventions interfered with his statutory and constitutional right to bring such a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.430533

Essendon Engineering v Maile: 1982

Citations:

[1982] Crim LR 510

Cited by:

Cited – Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd CA 10-Feb-2009
Harassment to Criminal Level needed to Convict
The claimant had been a customer of the defendant, but had moved to another supplier. She was then subjected to a constant stream of threatening letters which she could not stop despite re-assurances and complaints. The defendant now appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.416020

Ferrari-Bravo v Italy: ECHR 1984

Paragraph (3)(d) rights did not apply when a witness was being questioned by the investigating judge, but only at trial.

Citations:

(1984) 37 DR 15

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6(3)(d)

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Horncastle and Others, Regina v SC 9-Dec-2009
Each defendant said they had not received a fair trial in that the court had admitted written evidence of a witness he had not been allowed to challenge. The witnesses had been victims, two of whom had died before trial. It was suggested that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.383818

Regina v Docherty: CACD 1999

The defendant was accused of a sexual assault. A witness referred to his having been in prison. The trial judge refused to discharge the jury, stating that the remark could well have been taken to mean that that the defendant was a dishonest person whose word could not be believed, rather than that he had been convicted of a sexual offence, which was not the inevitable inference to be drawn from the remark.
Held: The judge had applied the wrong test.
Roch LJ said: ‘In weighing up the danger of bias on the part of this jury arising from these answers, the judge should, in our judgment, have approached the issue on the basis of the more prejudicial meaning that could reasonably be placed on these answers rather than some lesser prejudicial interpretation.’

Judges:

Roch LJ

Citations:

[1999] 1 Cr App R 274

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Mitcham v The Queen PC 16-Mar-2009
(Saint Christopher and Nevis) The applicant appealed against his sentence of death following his conviction for murder. He had been granted a stay of execution pending the appeal to the board and had since been given leave to appeal against . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.321823

Regina v Zephaniah Williams And William Jones: 1840

Before any of the jury were sworn, the counsel of Zephaniah Williams renewed the objection made in the former case, whereupon the Attorney-General called upon him to declare explicitly whether he objected to the prisoner being then tried upon the account of that objection, to which the counsel for the prisoner answered that he did not.

Citations:

[1840] EngR 212, (1840) 2 Mood 143, (1840) 169 ER 57

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.309638

Regina v R: CACD 2 Feb 2001

The defendant was tried on several sexual offences, amongst which was included a rape of a girl under 16, committed abroad before the Act came into effect. He appealed.
Held: The convictions were set aside. The rape was non-justiciable, since an English court did not have jurisdiction to hear it. That must make the trial and other convictions unsafe. The 1997 Act had no retrospective effect. The evidence of the earlier rape might or might not have been admitted by the judge as similar fact evidence, but that question could not now be answered, and the jury would have received additional cautionary warnings. A re-trial was ordered of the justiciable matters. There was no right of appeal against a refusal to stay the case on the ground of abuse of process, but a ruling on the admission of evidence could be the subject of an interlocutory appeal.

Citations:

Times 02-Feb-2001, Gazette 26-Apr-2001

Statutes:

Sex Offenders Act 1997

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Claydon; Regina v Regina v Hall; Regina v Costall; Regina v French CACD 13-Jun-2001
The defendants faced substantial trials involving drugs offences. At a preparatory hearing the court made decisions about abuse of process and as to what evidence might be admitted. The prosecutor said there was no right of appeal.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88588

Regina v Craven: CACD 2 Feb 2001

In appropriate cases, a defect in the trial which made that trial unfair, could be remedied on appeal by that court considering all the evidence available to it. It was recognised that this would trespass on the responsibilities of the jury, but if the court considered that, in the light of all the evidence including evidence previously excluded, the verdict was correct, then the court should let the decision stand. The defects in this case were not sufficient to justify the verdict being set aside, and DNA evidence which had been obtained subsequently only confirmed it.

Citations:

Times 02-Feb-2001

Statutes:

Criminal Appeal Act 1968

Criminal Practice, Natural Justice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88426

Regina v Maidstone Crown Court Ex Parte Clark: QBD 19 Dec 1994

The judge was wrong to insist on the defendant entering a ‘holding plea’ at an arraignment where this was intended only to circumvent the custody time limits.
Glidewell LJ set out the applicable legislation and summarised its effect: ‘Put shortly, the effect of those provisions is that, if a custody time limit, either the original 112 days or any period extended as a result of an order of the court, expires before arraignment in the Crown Court, then the relevant defendant is automatically entitled to bail. The court’s only powers thereafter are to impose conditions on the grant of that bail. The power of the Crown to apply to the Crown Court to extend the time limit can only be exercised by that court if it is satisfied of the two requirements in section 22(3) of the 1985 Act, good and sufficient cause and that the prosecution has acted with all due expedition.’

Judges:

Glidewell LJ

Citations:

Gazette 08-Feb-1995, Times 19-Dec-1994, [1995] 1 WLR 831, [1995] 3 All ER 513

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Olutu v Home Office CA 29-Nov-1996
The claimant said that she had been detained in excess of the period allowed under the 1987 Regulations, and that that detention was unlawful. She now appealed against the striking out of her claim.
Held: Her action failed. The availablility . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88550

Regina v Criminal Cases Review Commission, ex parte Hunt: CA 24 Nov 2000

The Commissioners of the Inland Revenue did have power to conduct a prosecution at the Crown Court without first obtaining the consent of the Attorney General, even though it was a police officer had actually laid the charge. A prosecution was conducted on behalf of a police force where the force had been involved in investigation, arrest, and charge. The charge alone was insufficient. The Court of Appeal should be reluctant to allow too many challenges of the discretion allowed the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
Lord Woolf CJ spoke in support of the common law power of the Inland Revenue Commissioners to bring prosecutions: ‘Great importance has always been attached to the ability of an ordinary member of the public to prosecute in respect of breaches of the criminal law. If an ordinary member of the public can bring proceedings for breaches of the criminal law, it would be surprising if the Inland Revenue were not in a similar position.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf CJ

Citations:

Times 24-Nov-2000, [2001] QB 1108

Statutes:

Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 3 (2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Criminal Cases Review Commission, Michael John Hunt Admn 21-Mar-2000
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Rollins, Regina v CACD 9-Oct-2009
The court was asked whether the Financial Services Authority had itself the power to prosecute offences under the 2002 Act. The defence said that the FSA’s powers were limited to offences under the 2000 Act. The FSA relied on its common law power to . .
Cited – Rollins, Regina v SC 28-Jul-2010
The court was asked whether the Financial Services Authority had a power to prosecute money laundering offences under the 2002 Act, or whether, as contended by the defendant, its powers were limited to sections under the 2000 Act.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Taxes Management, Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88428

Regina v Williams, Regina v Smith: CACD 27 Jan 1994

The defendant’s appeal was allowed after the police evidence against him was discredited in later proceedings.

Citations:

Times 27-Jan-1994, [1995] 1 CAR 74

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Levey, Regina v CACD 27-Jul-2006
The defendant appealed against his conviction of manslaughter of his baby son. He said that a family court had previously investigated the same allegations and had explicitly found itself unable to say which of himself and the mother were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88325

Regina v Wood: CACD 11 Jul 1995

A newspaper’s pressure on jury to convict by suggesting other evidence, made the trial unfair. Suggestions of unfairness by judge in his summing up should only be made if supported by counsel at the trial. The degree of adverse comment allowed today was substantially less than it had been 50 years ago. But the defendant allegedly an IRA terrorist, whatever the merits or lack of merits of his defence, was entitled to a fair trial, which the court considered he had not had.

Citations:

Times 11-Jul-1995, Ind Summary 31-Jul-1995, Gazette 31-Aug-1995, [1996] 1 Cr App R 207

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Approved – Mears v Regina PC 1993
The prosecution case relied upon the evidence of a woman with whom the accused cohabited. The prosecution case was that the accused had told the woman that he had killed the victim in a particular way. The defendant denied killing the victim and . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.88341

Regina v Marsh: CACD 2 Aug 1993

The court took the opportunity to make a restatement of the fact that it is for the judge merely to hold the ring. He should not anticipate and interrupt a cross examination.

Citations:

Gazette 02-Aug-1993

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.87278

Regina v Sanghera: CA 26 Oct 2000

The search of a victim’s premises which continued after evidence had come to light suggesting the victim might be a suspect was in breach of the codes of practice where it continued without the consent of the occupier. Evidence which was derived from that continued search was unlawful. Nevertheless, it was fair to admit the evidence since the defendant was not challenging the facts as to what was found and would have still been able to offer any explanation of the search results.

Citations:

Times 26-Oct-2000

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 78, Codes of Practice PACE 1984

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Torts – Other, Criminal Practice, Police

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.85472

Regina v Emmett (Stephen Roy): CACD 15 Oct 1999

When the CPS intends to seek an order for costs against a defendant, in future, the defendant must be given notice of the intention to make the application. (it may be that this is to apply in the Court of Appeal only, but this is unclear from the report).

Citations:

Times 15-Oct-1999

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Regina v Emmett CACD 18-Jun-1999
The defendant appealed against conviction after being involved in sexual activity which he said was not intended to cause harm, and were said to be consensual, but clearly did risk harm. On the first occasion he tied a plastic bag over the head of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.85247

McKerry v Teesdale and Wear Valley Justices; McKerry v Director of Public Prosecutions: CA 29 Feb 2000

The courts must recognise the need to protect the identity of children involved in criminal proceedings. This derived both from national statute and from international law and practice. Nevertheless, the court had the discretion in appropriate cases to order disclosure of the name of a child convicted before it of criminal charges where the public interest properly required this. As to the giving of reasons for their decision by magistrates: ‘It is not usual for magistrates to give detailed reasons; nor is it usual for juries, who make very important decisions affecting human rights, to give any reasons at all. If an aggrieved party wishes to obtain more detailed reasons from a magistrates’ court, then a request can be made to state a case, as was done here, and the justices have given their reasons at somewhat greater length.’

Judges:

Lord Bingham

Citations:

Gazette 16-Mar-2000, Times 29-Feb-2000, [2001] EMLR 5

Statutes:

Children and Young Persons Act 1933 49(4A)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Mathialagan, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Southwark and Another CA 13-Dec-2004
Liability Orders were made against the appellant in respect of non-domestic rates in respect of two properties. The orders were made in the absence of the appellant or any representative. Application for judicial review was made to re-open the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Child Support, Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.83553

Dhesi v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police: CA 9 May 2000

Where a person was arrested and the duty arose for him to be told of the reason for his arrest, that duty could be satisfied by a different officer than the one who actually performed the arrest. The purpose of the section was to protect the person arrested by letting him know why he was arrested. That purpose would not be defeated by the reason being given then or as soon as practicable thereafter by another officer.

Citations:

Times 09-May-2000

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 28

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Torts – Other, Police, Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.79955

Bussey v Director of Public Prosecutions: CA 17 Mar 1999

Where there remained a difference between the defence and the prosecution as to the facts on which a sentence was to be based a crown court hearing an appeal against sentence was able to sentence on a basis of different facts then found by the magistrates.

Citations:

Gazette 17-Mar-1999, [1998] Crim LR

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Stephen Patrick Bussey v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 5-May-1998
. .

Cited by:

Appealed to – Stephen Patrick Bussey v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 5-May-1998
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.78779

Abrahams v Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis: CA 8 Dec 2000

The claimant had been arrested for swearing at a police officer. After her arrest, the claimant made admissions to secure a caution, rather than risk prosecution. She later sought to begin a civil action for damages against the police in the course of which she the denied the matters which she had earlier admitted.
Held: The claimant’s appeal against a strike out of her claim succeeded. The admissions had been secured by an apparent breach of duty by the officer, and she was not be estopped from bringing the claim. The formal caution is not so closely analogous to a conviction that the claimant should be barred from beginning civil proceedings because of it. An attack on the caution did not involve attacking any decision of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction.
Lord Justice Mantell said: ‘the caution was not brought about by any decision of a court of justice, so did not fall foul of the rule in Saif Ali. An attack on it did not involve attacking a decision of a court of co-ordinate jurisdiction.’

Judges:

Mantell LJ, Kay LJ

Citations:

Gazette 01-Feb-2001, Times 21-Dec-2000, [2001] 1 WLR 1257, [2000] EWCA Civ 3043, [2000] Po LR 374

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Saif Ali v Sydney Mitchell and Co (a Firm) HL 1978
Extent of Counsel’s Immunity in Negligence
The House considered the extent of a barrister’s immunity from action in negligence, and particularly whether it covered pre-trial acts or omissions in connection with civil proceedings.
Held: A barrister’s immunity from suit extended only to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Roberts, Regina (on the application of) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and another SC 17-Dec-2015
The Court considered the validity of suspicionless stop and search activities under s 60 of the 1994 Act, by police officers.
Held: The claimant’s appeal failed. The safeguards attending the use of the s 60 power, and in particular the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Criminal Practice, Police

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.77618

Regina v Foster: CA 29 Mar 1984

The effect of a free pardon was to remove from the subject of the pardon ‘all pains, penalties and punishments whatsoever that from the said conviction may ensue’, but not to eliminate the conviction itself.
Watkins LJ said: ‘constitutionally the Crown no longer has a prerogative of justice, but only a prerogative of mercy. It cannot, therefore, he submits, remove a conviction but only pardon its effects. The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) is the only body which has statutory power to quash a conviction. With that we entirely agree.’
and ‘We understand the strength of the argument that, despite the fact that a free pardon does not eliminate the conviction, a grant of a free pardon should be reserved for cases where it can be established that the convicted person was morally and technically innocent. Furthermore, the policy of confining the grant of a free pardon to such cases has been followed by successive Secretaries of State for over a century. We therefore propose to set aside any question of a free (or full) pardon and look at the matter afresh.’
and ‘These questions, therefore, arise. (a) Is there any objection in principle to the grant of a posthumous conditional pardon? (b) Was the Home Secretary in error in failing to consider the grant of a conditional pardon in this case?
On the first question it may be objected that a conditional pardon is inappropriate where the full penalty has already been paid. The answer to this objection, however, is that it is an error to regard the prerogative of mercy as a prerogative right which is only exercisable in cases which fall into specific categories. The prerogative is a flexible power and its exercise can and should be adapted to meet the circumstances of the particular case. We would adopt the language used by the Court of Appeal in New Zealand in Burt v. Governor-General [1992] 3 N.Z.L.R. 672, 681: ‘the prerogative of mercy [can no longer be regarded as] no more than an arbitrary monarchical right of grace and favour.’ It is now a constitutional safeguard against mistakes. It follows, therefore, that, in our view, there is no objection in principle to the grant of a posthumous conditional pardon where a death sentence has already been carried out. The grant of such a pardon is a recognition by the state that a mistake was made and that a reprieve should have been granted.’

Judges:

Watkins LJ

Citations:

(1984) 79 Cr App R 61

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Shields, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice Admn 17-Dec-2008
The claimant had been convicted in Bulgaria of attempted murder. He had denied it, and somebody later confessed to the crime, but that confession had not been admitted. Having been transferred to England to complete his sentence, he now asked for a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.279914

Evans v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 2001

The defendant appealed saying that the magistrates in convicting him had given the impression that they had applied a lower standard of proof than was required.
Held: Even though there was no basis to find that the magistrates had in fact applied a lower standard the words used gave the impression that they might have done. The defendant had been left with a feeling that he had not been given a fair trial, and the conviction wa set aside.

Judges:

Bell J, Lord Woolf LCJ

Citations:

[2001] EWHC Admin 369

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – McCubbin, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 12-Oct-2004
The defendant appealed by way of case stated against the decision of the magistrates to convict him of assault.
Held: No point of law had been raised. The reasons given were adequate. In truth this was a challenge on the facts, and the . .
Applied – Ukpabi v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 18-Apr-2008
Appeal against conviction for assaulting police constables in the execution of their duty.
Held: The magistrates had given the impression that in convicting him they were not fully convinced of the evidence against him, and that therefore a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Criminal Practice, Human Rights

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.267515

Regina (TH) v Wood Green Crown Court: CACD 31 Oct 2006

The applicant had been committed to custody during a trial pending further evidence being submitted, and sought judicial review of the decision. He had attended court to give evidence but had appeared very reluctant.
Held: Judicial reviw of a matter relating to a trial on indictment was not and remained unavailable. The order made was such an order. The applicant had the alternatives of applying for habeas corpus or seeking damages.

Judges:

Auld LJ, Wilkie J

Citations:

Times 09-Nov-2006

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Media, Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.245937

Adel Muhammed el Dabbah v Attorney General for Palestine: PC 1944

The Board looked at the discretion which lay with a prosecutor as to whether to call witnesses.
Held: The discretion, in the first instance at any rate, rested with the prosecution: ‘And the court will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion, unless, perhaps, it can be shown that the prosecutor has been influenced by some oblique motive.’

Judges:

Lord Thankerton

Citations:

[1944] AC 156

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Oliva CCA 18-May-1965
The defendant appealed his conviction for wounding one Brian Rutledge with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. Both the victim, Mr Rutledge, and also a man named Hampden gave evidence at the committal proceedings and their names appeared on the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.242114

Regina v K (Evidence: Child video interview): CACD 10 Mar 2006

The defendant appealed admission into evidence against him of a video recording of if the child complainant.
Held: The admissibility of such a recording as evidence of indecent assault rested primarily on whether a jury could be sure that the child had given a creditable and accurate account.

Judges:

Hooper LJ

Citations:

Times 10-Apr-2006

Statutes:

Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 27

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – G v Director of Public Prosecutions CACD 1997
The court considered with respect to evidence given by video interview, the need to recognise the importance of whether passages might possibly have been influenced by others. . .
Cited – Regina v Hanton CACD 2005
The court set out the test for whether a video recording of an interview was admissible: ‘Could a reasonable jury properly directed be sure that the witness has given a credible and accurate account on the video tape, notwithstanding any breaches? . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.240397

Regina v Radley: 1973

Lord Widgery CJ ‘one ought to give a fairly liberal meaning to the language of section 5’

Judges:

Lord Widgery CJ

Citations:

(1973) 58 Cr App R 396

Statutes:

Indictments Act 1915 5

Citing:

Approved – Rex v Pople; Rex v Smith 1950
‘any alteration [of an indictment] in matters of description, and probably in many other respects, may be made in order to meet the evidence in the case as long as the amendment causes no injustice to the accused person’. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Alibhai and Others CACD 30-Mar-2004
The defendants appealed against their convictions for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute counterfeit Microsoft products. They said that inadequate disclosure had been provided by Microsoft. The principal witness was a participating informant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.237904

John Pierce v Her Majesty’s Advocate: 1981

A forensic scientist had been called as an expert witness at a criminal trial. He had made an unjustified assumption but had not disclosed the making of the assumption to the court.
Held: The court concluded that the witness had been discredited, not only as a scientist, but also as a witness upon the accuracy, fairness and objectivity and of whose evidence reliance could be placed: ‘This was in our judgment, conduct on the part of an expert witness which demonstrated a complete misunderstanding of the role of scientific witnesses in the Courts, and a lack of the essential qualities of accuracy and scientific objectivity which are normally to be taken for granted.’

Judges:

Lord Justice-General (Lord Emslie)

Citations:

1981 SCLR 783

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – McTear v Imperial Tobacco Ltd OHCS 31-May-2005
The pursuer sought damages after her husband’s death from lung cancer. She said that the defenders were negligent in having continued to sell him cigarettes knowing that they would cause this.
Held: The action failed. The plaintiff had not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Evidence

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.226226

Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 2003) (Rogan): CANI 2001

The court discussed the need to take notes of meetings in chambers between the judge and counsel. The court set out four principles to be applied: ‘1. There should be freedom of access for counsel to judges, but that does not mean freedom to discuss matters which can perfectly well be discussed in open court. The basic principle is that access to the judge is to enable matters to be discussed which cannot be referred to in court without creating some difficulty.
2. Inquiries about possible sentences should not be entertained by judges unless they are genuinely necessary to permit counsel to advise their clients on their course of action, e.g. if considering pleading guilty to a lesser charge.
3. Where they think it proper to give an indication of the type of sentence which they propose to impose, judges should be cautious about how specific they are. It is rarely advisable to do more than state whether the sentence will take a particular form, whatever the plea, or indicate in general terms how seriously the court views the case.
4. A full and where possible verbatim note should be made of all discussions in chambers, preferably by a shorthand writer. Where this is not practicable, the judge should take a full note or ask counsel to take a note and furnish it for agreement.’

Judges:

Carswell LJ

Citations:

[2001] NI 366

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v McNeill CANI 1993
It is a basic principle that justice must be done in public, for all to see and hear, and all communications between counsel and judge should wherever possible be made in open court. . .
Cited – Regina v Turner CACD 1970
The court considered an appeal where the defendant had entered a plea of guilty but had felt himself under undue pressure from the judge.
Held: The court urged caution in the practice of counsel seeing the judge in his chambers, though . .

Cited by:

Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (Number 8 of 2004) (Dawson and Others) CANI 15-Apr-2005
Defendants had been convicted of offences involving supply of cannabis and cocaine, including the evasion of import controls and conspiracy. The sentences were appealed as too lenient.
Held: Where a prosecutor was aware that a plea of guilty . .
Cited – Rooney and Others, Re Attorney General’s Reference (Number 1 of 2005) CANI 11-Nov-2005
The defendants had been convicted or armed robbery. The Attorney General appealed against the sentences saying they were too lenient. Rooney argued that his plea of guilty had been after an indication by the judge and the reference was misguided. . .
Cited – Rooney and Others, Re Attorney General’s Reference (Number 1 of 2005) CANI 11-Nov-2005
The defendants had been convicted or armed robbery. The Attorney General appealed against the sentences saying they were too lenient. Rooney argued that his plea of guilty had been after an indication by the judge and the reference was misguided. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.224214

Barton v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 2001

The defendant appealed by way of case stated against the Stipendiary Magistrates’ decision that an information alleging theft of andpound;1,338.23 over a period of years did not offend against the rule that an information should only allege a single offence. The evidence in support of the charge indicated that there had been 94 takings from the cash register covered by debit entries.
Held: After reviewing the authorities on ‘continuous offences’, and despite the fact that the individual appropriations were each capable of being separately identified, that it was permissible to charge the whole course of conduct as a continuous offence because the defendant had no specific explanation for individual takings and put forward the same defence for all takings. The Magistrate accordingly was in a position to disregard any amount that he was unsure that the defendant had taken.
Kennedy LJ said: ‘Here the prosecution’s case was, we understand, set out in a schedule with dates and amounts indicating what was involved. Undoubtedly, each line in the schedule could have been charged as a separate offence, but had they been so charged, on average the amount involved would have been about andpound;15. Even if there had been 10 informations, the amount would still be under andpound;200. It simply would not represent the overall criminality, which, as we have already indicated, amounted to a sum in excess of andpound;1300. Specimen counts or specimen informations are no longer a possibility, in the light of the relatively recent decisions of this Court and of the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division. To have 94 separate informations would have rightly been regarded as oppressive.’

Judges:

Kennedy LJ and Astill J

Citations:

[2001] EWHC Admin 223

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Tovey and Another v Regina CACD 9-Mar-2005
Each defendant appealed sentences where he had committed a series of offences and the sentence had been for specimen acts.
Held: When choosing representative offences a prosecutor should be careful to try to give the court a proper picture of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.224230

Regina v Robertson and Golder: CACD 1987

The court considered the words ‘any issue in those proceedings’ as contained in the section.
Held: The provision should be used only sparingly.

Citations:

(1987) 85 Cr App R 304

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 74(1)

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Shanks CACD 19-Mar-2003
The appellant appealed his conviction for murder. He had shot his lover as she walked away from an argument. The fact of his conviction following mention of a guilty plea to possession of the firearm was complained of.
Held: The judge had . .
Cited – Regina v Harris CACD 19-Apr-2000
The purpose of section 74(3) was ‘not to define or enlarge the circumstances in which evidence is admissible of the fact that an accused has committed an offence, but simply to assist in the mode of proof of that fact (which it does in section 75): . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.223483

Rex v Heyes: KBD 1951

For so long as a defendant remains in the charge of the jury he or she can only be acquitted or convicted by the verdict of the jury.

Citations:

[1951] 1 KB 29

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kelleher, Regina v CACD 20-Nov-2003
The defendant, out of strong conviction, entered an art gallery and knocked the head from a statue of Margaret Thatcher.
Held: The court examined the breadth of the defence of ‘lawful excuse’ to a charge of criminal damage, and whether a court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.222708

Crawford v Washington: 2004

(US Supreme Court) The Court examined the historical background to the Sixth Amendment.
Held: The principal evil against which it was directed ‘was the civil-law mode of criminal procedure, and particularly its use of ex parte examinations as evidence against the accused.’ Hence it was aimed at an accuser who made a formal statement to government officers.

Judges:

Scalia J

Citations:

(2004) 541 US 36

Jurisdiction:

United States

Cited by:

Cited – D (A Minor), Regina (on the Application of) v Camberwell Green Youth Court HL 27-Jan-2005
The defendant challenged the obligatory requirement that evidence given by a person under 17 in sex or violent offence cases must normally be given by video link.
Held: The purpose of the section was to improve the quality of the evidence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

International, Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.222103

Rex v Smellie: CCA 1919

The defendant was accused of mistreating his eleven year old daughter. He was ordered to sit upon the stairs leading to the dock, out of her sight, in order to avoid her being intimidated.
Held: A judge could, using the courts own powers to regulate its own proceedings, remove the accused from the sight of a witness whom his presence might intimidate. The court rejected an objection rested on, inter alia, a proposition that ‘a prisoner is entitled at common law to be within sight and hearing of all the witnesses throughout his trial.’

Citations:

(1919) 14 Cr App R 128

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rex v Lee Kun CCA 1916
Accused must hear and understand the proceedings
A judge, from the moment he embarks upon a trial until he is functus officio that trial, is under a duty to ensure that both the process and substance of the trial is fair, and that both are duly compliant with appropriate principles. Lord Reading . .

Cited by:

Cited – D (A Minor), Regina (on the Application of) v Camberwell Green Youth Court HL 27-Jan-2005
The defendant challenged the obligatory requirement that evidence given by a person under 17 in sex or violent offence cases must normally be given by video link.
Held: The purpose of the section was to improve the quality of the evidence . .
Cited – AG for the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia v Steinhoff PC 19-Jul-2005
(Akrotiri and Dhekelia) The defendant had appealed convictions for rape and attempted rape. He had criticised the arrangements for protecting the complainant when giving evidence, which had not complied with the 1999 Act. His appeal succeeded in . .
Cited – Regina v Davis HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant had been tried for the murder of two men by shooting them at a party. He was identified as the murderer by three witnesses who had been permitted to give evidence anonymously, from behind screens, because they had refused, out of fear, . .
Cited – Stanford v United Kingdom ECHR 11-Apr-1994
A defendant’s difficulty in hearing the case because of a screen erected to protect the identity of witnesses did not vitiate the trial or make it unfair. The right to a fair trial included the right to be present and in a position to follow the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.222104

Hols v Netherlands: ECHR 19 Oct 1996

The court arranged a live link transmission where both counsel were in the room with the witness while the judge and accused remained in the courtroom.
Held: The application was declared inadmissible. The Convention does not guarantee the accused a right to be in the same room as the witness giving evidence. What matters is that the defence should have a proper opportunity to challenge and question the witnesses against the accused. These requirements can be satisfied even where, for good reason, the accused is not physically present at the questioning.

Citations:

Unreported, 19 October 1996, 25206/94

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – D (A Minor), Regina (on the Application of) v Camberwell Green Youth Court HL 27-Jan-2005
The defendant challenged the obligatory requirement that evidence given by a person under 17 in sex or violent offence cases must normally be given by video link.
Held: The purpose of the section was to improve the quality of the evidence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.222105

Regina v West: 1964

The justices had purported to hear and determine an information of accessory after the fact of a larceny.
Held: The action was a nullity; and thus the defendant’s acquittal was also a nullity. The justices had therefore not exhausted their jurisdiction and had not barred themselves from acting in their other and quite distinct capacity of examining magistrates. Thus the committal of the defendant to stand trial at quarter sessions was a valid committal.

Citations:

[1964] QB 15

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Rex v Marsham ex parte Pethick Lawrence 1912
The magistrate had failed to swear a witness and purported to convict the applicant in that case. The case was reheard on sworn evidence.
Held: The court refused to quash the conviction. The magistrate correctly treated the first hearing as ‘a . .
Applied – Bannister v Clarke 1920
The act of the justices in purporting to commit the appellant for trial on five informations was a nullity and thus did not deprive the justices of jurisdiction to hear those informations summarily at a subsequent date. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Mathialagan, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Southwark and Another CA 13-Dec-2004
Liability Orders were made against the appellant in respect of non-domestic rates in respect of two properties. The orders were made in the absence of the appellant or any representative. Application for judicial review was made to re-open the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.220280

Government of India v Quattrocchi: CA 20 Jan 2004

The defendant faced trial in India. The prosecutor obtained an order here restraining disposal of assets here pending the outcome of the criminal trial.
Held: Where the conditions were met, an order could properly be made. The defendant, having been accused of fraud, had transferred 3 million pounds to a bank in England. Proceedings had been instituted and by a designated country. A confiscation would be available to the court in India, and a restraint order was proper here.

Judges:

Lord Philips of Worth Matravers, NT, Buxton, Keene LJJ

Citations:

Times 28-Jan-2004

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 76

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice, International

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.193418

Rex v O’Donnell: 1917

The appeal court considered the position of a defendant where the judge had summed up strongly against him: ‘ . . a judge, when directing a jury, is clearly entitled to express his opinion on the facts of the case, provided that he leaves the issues of fact to the jury to determine. A judge obviously is not justified in directing a jury, or using in the course of his summing up such language as leads them to think that he is directing them, that they must find the facts in the way which he indicates. But he may express a view that the facts ought to be dealt with in a particular way, or ought not to be accepted by the jury at all. He is entitled to tell the jury that the prisoner’s story is a remarkable one, or that it differs from the accounts which he has given of the same matter on other occasions. No doubt the judge here did express himself strongly on the case, but he left the issues of fact to the jury for their decision and therefore this point also fails.’

Citations:

(1917) 12 Cr App R 219

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.192076

Regina v Hepworth and Fearnley: 1955

Lord Goddard discussed again the direction to the jury as to the standard of proof: ‘I think it is very unfortunate to talk to juries about reasonable doubt, because the explanations given of what is and what is not a reasonable doubt are so very often extraordinarily difficult to follow and it is very difficult to tell a jury what is a reasonable doubt. To tell a jury that it must not be a fanciful doubt is no real guidance. To tell them that a reasonable doubt is such a doubt as would cause them to hesitate in their own affairs never seems to me to convey any particular standard; one member of the jury might say he would hesitate over something and another member might say that that same thing would not cause him to hesitate at all. I, therefore, suggested in that case that it would be better to use some other expression, by which I meant that it should be conveyed to the jury that they should convict only if they felt sure of the guilt of the accused. In some cases the word ‘satisfied’ has been used. It is said that the jury in a civil case has to be satisfied and, therefore, one is laying down only the same standard of proof as in a civil case. I confess that I have had some difficulty in understanding how there is or there can be two standards; therefore, one would be on safe ground if one said in a criminal case to a jury: ‘You must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt’ and one could also say: ‘You must be completely satisfied’ or better still: ‘You must feel sure of the prisoner’s guilt”

Judges:

Lord Goddard

Citations:

(1955) 39 Cr App R 152

Citing:

Explained – Rex v Summers HL 1952
The House considered the direction on the standard of proof. Lord Goddard said: ‘It is far better, instead of using the words ‘reasonable doubt’ and then trying to explain what is a reasonable doubt, to direct a jury: ‘You must not convict unless . .
Cited – Rex v Kritz 1949
The House discussed the extent of the direction required to be given to a jury as to the standard of proof required: ‘The only other point which has been seriously argued is that because the learned Common Sergeant told the jury that they must be . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.192065

Regina v West: 1910

A judge should not put himself in the position of the jury as regards the decision of facts and that the proviso to the section would not apply where the judge decided facts instead of the jury.

Judges:

Lawrance J

Citations:

(1910) 4 Cr App R 179

Statutes:

Criminal Appeal Act 1907 491)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.192074

Rex v Frampton: 1917

In this case it was held that the trial judge had gone too far in his comments and could not really be said to have put the defendant’s case to the jury. ‘We cannot allow a summing up which puts the case so strongly against the prisoner to stand…’

Judges:

Lord Reading CJ

Citations:

(1917) 12 Cr App R 202

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.192075

Regina v Murtagh and Kennedy: 1955

Citations:

(1955) 39 Cr App R 72

Citing:

Cited – Rex v Summers HL 1952
The House considered the direction on the standard of proof. Lord Goddard said: ‘It is far better, instead of using the words ‘reasonable doubt’ and then trying to explain what is a reasonable doubt, to direct a jury: ‘You must not convict unless . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Derek William Bentley (Deceased) CACD 30-Jul-1998
The defendant had been convicted of murder in 1952, and hung. A court hearing an appeal after many years must apply laws from different eras to different aspects. The law of the offence (of murder) to be applied was that at the time of the offence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.192064

Regina v Henry: 26 Feb 2009

British Columbia – Court of Appeal – The Court had granted permission to Mr Henry to reopen his appeal against conviction for offences of sexual assault. His case was to be that Mr X, who had already been convicted of other assaults, had instead been the perpetrator of the assaults for which he, Mr Henry, had been convicted.
Held: The court prohibited public identification of Mr X until determination of the appeal. Newbury JA observed that the public interest in the openness of trials and in the administration of justice was not diminished by withholding his identification and she concluded as follows: ‘If our society takes seriously the proposition that a person in Mr X’s position is presumed innocent until proven guilty, it seems to me that the deleterious effects, both on his privacy interests and on the administration of justice, of the publication of his name do outweigh the public interest in knowing that fact.’

Judges:

Newbury JA

Citations:

2009 BCCA 86 (CanLII)

Links:

Canlii

Jurisdiction:

Canada

Cited by:

Cited – PNM v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others SC 19-Jul-2017
No anonymity for investigation suspect
The claimant had been investigated on an allegation of historic sexual abuse. He had never been charged, but the investigation had continued with others being convicted in a high profile case. He appealed from refusal of orders restricting . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Media

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.590537

Regina v Cooper (Sean): CACD 1969

The court considered its power to interfere with a jury’s verdict where a trial had been properly conducted: ‘every issue was before the jury and in which the jury was properly instructed, and, accordingly, a case in which this court will be very reluctant indeed to intervene. It has been said over and over again throughout the years that this court must recognise the advantage which a jury has in seeing and hearing the witnesses, and if all the material was before the jury and the summing-up was impeccable, this court should not lightly interfere. Indeed, until the passing of the Criminal Appeal Act, 1966 . . it was almost unheard of for this court to interfere in such a case. However, now our powers are somewhat different, and we are indeed charged to allow an appeal against conviction if we think that the verdict of the jury should be set aside on the ground that under all the circumstances of the case it is unsafe or unsatisfactory. That means that in cases of this kind the court must in the end ask itself a subjective question, whether we are content to let the matter stand as it is, or whether there is not some lurking doubt in our minds which makes us wonder whether an injustice has been done. This is a reaction which may not be based strictly on the evidence as such; it is a reaction which can be produced by the general feel of the case as the court experiences it.’ ‘The test whether each member of an appellate court considers the verdicts ‘unsafe or unsatisfactory’ is part of the very alphabet of the criminal law. ‘

Judges:

Widgery LJ

Citations:

[1969] 1 QB 267

Statutes:

Criminal Appeal Act 1966

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kin-Hung v The Queen PC 11-Nov-1996
(Hong Kong) Despite the judge’s sympathetic directions as to the inadeqacy of the prosecution case, the defendant was convicted of two rapes.
Held: The test whether each member of an appellate court considers the verdicts ‘unsafe or . .
Cited – Stafford v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1974
The House rejected the submission of counsel that the Court of Appeal had asked the wrong question by taking as the test the effect of the fresh evidence on their mind and not the effect that the evidence would have had on the mind of the jury. It . .
Cited – Pope v Regina CACD 1-Nov-2012
A woman had been murdered. Her husband was acquitted, and the present appellant then charged and convicted. His appeal succeeded, and a retrial ordered. He now appealed against his second conviction. The defendant now appealed, saying that there . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.191151

Regina v Nye: CACD 1982

When there are previous convictions which are spent, it is not possible to refer to the defendant as a person of good character. It is however possible for a modified direction to be given to the effect that the defendant has no previous convictions which are relevant to the charge which is before the jury: ‘ It is entirely a question for the discretion of the judge. It may well be that the past spent conviction happened when the defendant being tried was a juvenile, for instance for stealing apples, a conviction of many years before. In those circumstances quite plainly a trial judge would rule that such a person ought to be permitted to present himself as a man of good character. At the other end of the scale, if a defendant is a man who has been convicted of some offence of violence and his conviction has only just been spent and the offence for which he is then standing trial involves some violence, then it would be plain that a trial judge would rule that it would not be right for such a person to present himself as a man of good character. The essence of this matter is that the jury must not be misled and no lie must be told to them about this matter. The exercise of the discretion of the trial judge in the cases which fall between the two extremes referred to must be carried out having regard to the 1974 Act and, to the Practice Direction. It should be exercised, so far as it can be, favourably towards the accused person’

Judges:

Talbot J

Citations:

[1982] 75 Cr App Rep 247

Statutes:

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Gellatly, JR CACD 22-Jul-1997
The defendant appealed against convictions for rape, attempted rape and indecent assault against the daughters of his partner. The allegations were that serious sexual assaults had been repeated over several years. The defendant denied them . .
Cited – Thomas v Commissioner of Police for Metropolis CA 28-Nov-1996
In an action for damages and false imprisonment, the defendant police officers sought to have introduced the claimant’s previous criminal record, which was expired under the 1974 Act.
Held: The judge had been correct not to follow practice in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.187264

Regina v Oxford City Justices, ex parte Smith: QBD 1982

The defendant had given a positive breath test. The laboratory test showed a urine/alcohol proportion above the prescribed limit. He was warned that proceedings were possible. The summons was issued within the six months’ period prescribed by the Act, but service was delayed for over two years. He objected that any hearing would be contrary to the rules of natural justice and prejudicial.
Held: The delay was inordinate, and due to the police’s non-observance or inefficiency or both; it was both unjustified and unnecessary, and of such length as to be unconscionable. It could not be said that he was not prejudiced thereby, and the justices were not justified in exercising any discretion. Accordingly, prohibition was granted to prohibit them from continuing the hearing.

Judges:

Lord Lane CJ

Citations:

(1982) 75 Cr App R 200

Statutes:

Magistrates’ Courts Act 1952

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Chichester Justices ex parte Crowther Admn 14-Oct-1998
The defendant sought judicial review of an order made in 1998 issuing a warrant for his committal for failure to pay a confiscation order made in 1991. He had served 6 years imprisonment, and in default of payment a further 18 months. He was . .
Cited – Regina v Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court ex parte Fiona Watts Admn 8-Feb-1999
The defendant sought to have dismissed as an abuse of proces charges against her that as an officer of Customs and Excise prosecuting the now private prosecutor, she had committed various offences.
Held: The magistrate was vested with . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Road Traffic, Natural Justice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.187182

Christie, Young, Scott v Her Majesty’s Advocate: HCJ 26 Sep 2003

The defendants appealed against their convictions based upon a faulty indictment. The Act required the that when signing a bill of indictment, the signature should bear certain words signifying the authority of the signatory. The words used were incorrect.
Held: The words used were sufficient for the purpose, and the appeals were dismissed.

Judges:

Lady Cosgrove and Lord Hamilton And Lord Justice General

Citations:

XC411/03, XC420/03, XC422/03, 2004 JC 13

Statutes:

Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – Clarke, Regina v; Regina v McDaid HL 6-Feb-2008
An indictment had not been signed despite a clear statutory provision that it should be. The defects were claimed to have been cured by amendment before sentence.
Held: The convictions failed. Sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the 1933 Act which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.191022

Attorney-General’s Reference (No 2 of 2001): HL 11 Dec 2003

The house was asked whether it might be correct to stay criminal proceedings as an abuse where for delay. The defendants were prisoners in a prison riot in 1998. The case only came on for trial in 2001, when they submitted that the delay was an abuse.
Held: The defendants had a right to a fair trial within a reasonable time, but that became effective only where it could be shown that no fair hearing remained possible, or there was some other compelling reason creating unfairness. The time period was to be calculated from the earliest time at which the defendant became aware that he might be charged. The mere fact that the prosecutor was the source of delay was not a sufficient reason. The consequences of a breach of a guaranteed right vary according to the situation. When faced with a delay, the court could ask whether the prejudice could be cured.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said: ‘I cannot accept that it can ever be proper for a court, whose purpose is to uphold, vindicate and apply the law, to act in a manner which a statute (here, section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998) declares to be unlawful’.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Sdteyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Millett, Lord Rodger of Earslferry

Citations:

[2003] UKHL 68, Gazette 29-Jan-2004, [2004] 2 AC 72, [2004] 1 All ER 1049, [2004] 15 BHRC 472, [2004] 1 Cr App R 25, [2004] 2 WLR 1, [2004] HRLR 16, [2004] UKHRR 193

Links:

HL, Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Hedworth CACD 20-Sep-1996
The court allowed amendment of the indictment to reflect the law as demonstrated in Preddy, and at a preparatory hearing application was made to quash the amended indictment on the basis that the charges were not supported by evidence in the . .
Appeal from – Attorney General’s Reference (No 2 of 2001) CACD 12-Jul-2001
When assessing whether the defendant’s right to a trial within a reasonable time had been infringed, the court should look as from the date at which he was charged, or served with a summons, and not from the date of the first interview. Although a . .
Cited – Dyer v Watson and Burrows PC 29-Jan-2002
Parties challenged the compliance of proceedings with the convention where there had been considerable delay.
Held: The reasonable detention provision (article 5(3)) and the reasonable time requirement (article 6(1)) conferred free-standing . .
Cited – Regina v Shayler HL 21-Mar-2002
The defendant had been a member of the security services. On becoming employed, and upon leaving, he had agreed to keep secret those matters disclosed to him. He had broken those agreements and was being prosecuted. He sought a decision that the . .
Cited – Regina v HM Advocate and The Advocate General for Scotland PC 28-Nov-2002
(The High Court of Justiciary) The prosecution had accepted that the matter had been the subject of unreasonable delay, but wished to continue. The defendant sought a plea in bar, on the basis that continuing would infringe his rights.
Held: . .
Cited – Stott (Procurator Fiscal, Dunfermline) and Another v Brown PC 5-Dec-2000
The system under which the registered keeper of a vehicle was obliged to identify herself as the driver, and such admission was to be used subsequently as evidence against her on a charge of driving with excess alcohol, was not a breach of her right . .
Cited – Regina v Horseferry Road Magistrates’ Court, ex Parte Bennett (No 1) HL 24-Jun-1993
The defendant had been brought to the UK in a manner which was in breach of extradition law. He had, in effect, been kidnapped by the authorities.
Held: The High Court may look at how an accused person was brought within the jurisdiction when . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 1 of 1990) CACD 1990
A police officer attended an incident where two people were arrested. Complaints about his conduct were made of which he was given notice. A formal investigation was instituted and adjourned pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against those . .
Cited – Eckle v Germany ECHR 15-Jul-1982
Two fraud prosecutions against the claimants had lasted for 15 and 20 years respectively.
Held: Article 6.1 applies to all stages of criminal proceedings, including sentencing and any appeal. The ‘reasonable time’ in criminal matters, . .

Cited by:

Cited – R, Regina (on the Application of) v Durham Constabulary and Another HL 17-Mar-2005
The appellant, a boy aged 15, had been warned as to admitted indecent assaults on girls. He complained that it had not been explained to him that the result would be that his name would be placed on the sex offenders register. The Chief Constable . .
Cited – Hounsham and Others, Regina v CACD 26-May-2005
The defendants appealed convictions for having staged motor accidents to support false insurance claims. They said that the insurance companies had contributed to the costs of the investigation by the police.
Held: It might have been most . .
Cited – Department for Work and Pensions v Courts Admn 3-May-2006
The appellant challenged stays of proceedings by the respondent magistrates court for abuse of process infringing the defendants’ human right to a fair trial. The magistrates had fund that being faced with dismissal of a summary case through delay, . .
Cited – Regina v Abu Hamza CACD 28-Nov-2006
The defendant had faced trial on terrorist charges. He claimed that delay and the very substantial adverse publicity had made his fair trial impossible, and that it was not an offence for a foreign national to solicit murders to be carried out . .
Cited – Ali, Altaf v Crown Prosecution Service, West Midlands CACD 22-Mar-2007
The defendant was first arrested in 1997, but only re-arrested in 2004. He complained that the delay affected his right to a fair trial within a proper time. The judge accepted this but the trial proceeded, the judge denying a claim of abuse of . .
Cited – Somerville v Scottish Ministers HL 24-Oct-2007
The claimants complained of their segregation while in prison. Several preliminary questions were to be decided: whether damages might be payable for breach of a Convention Right; wheher the act of a prison governor was the act of the executive; . .
Cited – Spiers v Ruddy PC 12-Dec-2007
Limits to Powers in Devolution Cases
Mr Spiers had complained as to the competency of two temporary sheriffs called to hear case against him, saying that the temporary nature of their appointments did not allow them to constitute an independent tribunal. He now complained that the . .
Cited – Rutter, Regina (on the Application of) v The General Teaching Council for England Admn 1-Feb-2008
The applicant challenged a decision of disciplinary committee to go ahead with an allegation of misconduct after considerable delay by council and failure to abide by its own rules. After not receiving a notice of proceedings the applicant had . .
Cited – Eastaway v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry CA 10-May-2007
The applicant had been subject to company director disqualification proceedings. Eventually he gave an undertaking not to act as a company director, but then succeeded at the ECHR in a complaint of delay. He now sought release from his undertaking . .
Cited – Murphy v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 20-Jun-2006
The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the prosecutor should have put in evidence the results of the roadside breath test. Mitting J referred to the case of Badkin: ‘But nothing in the judgment of Glidewell LJ leads to the conclusion that . .
Cited – Burns v Her Majesty’s Advocate (Scotland) PC 15-Dec-2008
The accused was arrested in February 2003, but then only brought to court in December 2004. He said that he had not had a fair trial within a reasonable time. The parties disputed when the time began to run from, from the date of arrest or his first . .
Cited – RCPO v C CACD 5-Feb-2010
The prosecutor appealed against a stay of the prosecution as an abuse of process. It was alleged that the defendant solicitor had permitted a relation of his partner to launder the proceeds of a tax fraud. The principal defendant had been . .
Cited – O’Neill v Her Majesty’s Advocate No 2 SC 13-Jun-2013
The appellants had been convicted of murder, it being said that they had disposed of her body at sea. They now said that the delay between being first questioned and being charged infringed their rights to a trial within a reasonable time, and . .
Cited – Gadd, Regina v QBD 10-Oct-2014
The prosecutor sought leave to bring a voluntary bill of indictment, to pursue historic sex abuse allegations against the defendant. The defendant objected to counts founded on facts which were the substance of a charge of indecent assault . .
Cited – Her Majesty’s Advocate v CAM ScSf 21-Nov-2012
The appellant challenged his conviction saying that there had been too long a delay in his trial. . .
Cited – RR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions SC 13-Nov-2019
Housing benefit regulations had been found unlawful and were amended. The Court now considered what payments should have been made before the amendments came into effect.
Held: The appeal was allowed, and RR’s housing benefit entitlement is to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.188773

Regina v Gavin: 1888

The court excluded a statement made to a constable, who questioned his prisoner in a way that amounted to cross-examination. A constable has no right to ask questions without expressly saying that the answers cannot be relevant evidence.

Judges:

AL Smith, J

Citations:

(1888) (15 Cox 656)

Cited by:

Not followed – Regina v Brackenbury 1893
. .
Cited – Ibrahim v The King PC 6-Mar-1914
(Hong Kong) The defendant was an Afghan subject with the British Army in Hong Kong. He was accused of murder. Having accepted the protection of the British Armed forces, he became subject to their laws. In custody, he was asked about the offence by . .
Applied – Regina v Histed 1898
The court excluded the answers of a prisoner in custody, on the authority of R. v. Gavin, saying that the constable was entrapping the prisoner and trying by a trick to set a broken-down case on its legs again. . .
Doubted – Regina v Best CCA 1909
Referring to the admissibility of answers to questions put before an arrest, ‘it is quite impossible to say that the fact that a question of this kind has been asked invalidates the trial’. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Evidence

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.184191

Rex v Jack Fielding: 1938

The defendant appealed alleging a misdirection of the jury by the judge.
Held: du Parcq J said: ‘it is most unsatisfactory that grounds of appeal should be drawn with such vagueness as we find in the present case . . It has been said many times in this Court that particulars must be given in the grounds of appeal. If misdirection is complained of, it must be stated whether the alleged misdirection is one of law or fact and its nature must also be stated. If omission is complained of, it must be stated what is alleged to have been omitted. It is not only placing an unnecessary burden on the Court to ask it to search through the summing up and the transcript of evidence to find out what there may be to be complained of, but it is also unfair to the prosecution, who are entitled to know what case they have to meet. We hope that it will not again be necessary to point out a similar inadequacy in grounds of appeal.’

Judges:

du Parcq J

Citations:

[1938] 26 Cr App R 211

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Errol Garvey CACD 30-Jan-2002
The appellant appealed a conviction for manslaughter and his sentence. There was a history of conflict between the appellant and the victim, and both had met up carrying knives. Witnesses said the appellant was the attacker. He claimed the judge had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.182994

Regina v Bolton Magistrates’ Court, ex parte Merna; Regina v Richmond Justices, ex parte Haines: 1991

The divisional court should intervene where a defendant has been deprived of a fair opportunity to present his case because of his own unavoidable absence.

Citations:

[1991] Crim LR 848, [1991] 155 JP 612

Cited by:

Cited – Ronald and John Popely and Another v D G Scott (Kent County Council) Admn 21-Dec-2000
This was an appeal by way of case stated. The appellants were alleged to have offered timeshare contracts without notification of cancellation rights. A director claimed he was unfit to attend, but the trial proceeded in his absence. He had, the day . .
Cited – Regina v Hereford Magistrates’ Court (ex parte Rowlands, Ingram); Regina v Harrow Youth Court (ex parte Prussia) Admn 10-Feb-1997
The power to adjourn a trial is conferred upon Justices by statute. The divisional court will intervene where defendants have been deprived of a fair opportunity to present their case. The decision whether to grant an adjournment is not a mechanical . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.179885

Khan v Lord Chancellor: QBD 17 Jan 2003

The applicant was a barrister. He had been tried and acquitted of criminal charges, and had been awarded cost from central funds. He appealed from a refusal of a claim for payment for the time he spent in preparation.
Held: The applicant was bound by the Bar’s Code of Conduct, which would have required him in defending himself to do so as litigant in person, since he could not represent himself professionally. The Regulations appeared to restrict a claim to actual costs incurred. He could not be remunerated for his own court appearances, but preparatory work was another matter. Boswell had extended the Chorley case, and his work should be recognised and rewarded. If Boswell had not so extended the rule, then this case would do so.

Judges:

Mitchell J

Citations:

Times 28-Jan-2003

Statutes:

Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 16(6), Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986 (1986 No 1335) 7

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – London Scottish Benefit Society v Chorley Crawford and Chester CA 30-May-1884
Where an action is brought against a solicitor who defends it in person and obtains judgment, he is entitled upon taxation to the same costs as if he had employed a solicitor, except in respect of items which the fact of his acting directly renders . .
Cited – Regina v Boswell CACD 1987
The Court relied on the rule that counsel was entitled, in certain narrowly prescribed circumstances, counsel to brief another counsel to appear on his or own behalf in respect of a costs dispute, to permit counsel in those circumstances to claim . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Costs, Criminal Practice, Legal Professions

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.178769

Regina v Marrin: CACD 4 Feb 2002

In order to assist in making the volunteers on the ID parade more greatly resemble the defendant, the police had used make-up to look as if they had stubble. The defendant appealed his conviction following the admission of that evidence.
Held: The police were correct to take reasonable steps to make the volunteers resemble the defendant. They were bound by the Code of Practice, but the code was silent on the point. Such a procedure, adopted in good faith and not objected to, led to no unfairness. It would, however, be sensible to keep a record of those to whom such make-up was applied.

Judges:

Lord Justice Keene, Mr Justice Gage and Judge Stevens, QC

Citations:

Times 05-Mar-2002

Statutes:

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 66

Evidence, Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.167714

David Gordon Radford v Kent County Council: Admn 18 Feb 1998

Citations:

[1998] EWHC Admin 199

Cited by:

Cited – Gough, Regina v CACD 8-Nov-2001
Appeal against conviction for burglary: ‘The appeal is concerned only with the directions given to the jury as to the inferences which they might draw after the appellant absconded during the course of his trial.’
Held: The direction was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.138320

Regina v Aitken; Regina v Bennett; Regina v Barson: CMAC 8 Jul 1992

Recommendation to change rules allowing judge advocate to sit alone when the question is solely an issue of law.

Citations:

Gazette 08-Jul-1992, [1992] 1 WLR 1006

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Smith, Regina v Mercieca HL 16-Feb-2005
A member of the jury wrote to the judge saying that other members were failing to discharge their duties properly. Smith took a tactical decision not to seek a retrial. The judge saw counsel in chambers, after which the jury were reminded of their . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Armed Forces

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.86043

Regina v B (A minor): CA 8 Feb 2001

A youth aged fourteen had been committed to the Crown Court for trial on allegations of indecency. It was quite inappropriate for such cases to be heard in that court, not only for the youth of the defendant, but also because of the age of the complainant witnesses. In this case it could not have been said that the youth court would not have had sufficient sentencing powers.

Citations:

Gazette 08-Feb-2001

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.88375

Regina v Central Criminal Court Ex Parte Propend Finance Pty Ltd and Others: QBD 17 Mar 1994

A Home Secretary requesting warrants must be specific on the type he required. It was his duty, and not that of the police to state the method of seizure of documents for use in a foreign jurisdiction. A judge making an order should give reasons for the order.

Judges:

Laws J

Citations:

Independent 29-Mar-1994, Times 05-Apr-1994, (1995) 1 Cr App R 26

Statutes:

Criminal Justice (International Cooperation) Act 1990 7

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Baccus SRL v Servicio Nacional Del Trigo CA 1956
The defendant organisation carried on business from Spain and was sued in England for damages for breach of a commercial contract. An appearance was entered by their solicitors in London and a consent order made for security for the organisation’s . .

Cited by:

At QBD – Propend Finance Property Ltd and Others v Sing and Another CA 17-Apr-1997
Diplomatic immunity had not been waived by an Australian policeman acting in breach of a court undertaking re documents. The effect of s14(1) was to give state officials protection ‘under the same cloak’ as the state itself: ‘The protection afforded . .
Cited – Jones v Ministry of Interior for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and others HL 14-Jun-2006
The claimants said that they had been tortured by Saudi police when arrested on false charges. They sought damages, and appealed against an order denying jurisdiction over the defendants. They said that the allegation of torture allowed an exception . .
Cited – Regina v Lewes Crown Court and Chief Constable of Sussex Police ex parte Nigel Weller and Co Admn 12-May-1999
The applicant sought judicial review of a decision to grant a search warrant in respect of his offices, saying that the material covered was protected by legal privilege. The warrant had been unavailable under section 8 because of the privilege, and . .
Cited – Reyes v Al-Malki and Another SC 18-Oct-2017
The claimant alleged that she had been discrimated against in her work for the appellant, a member of the diplomatic staff at the Saudi Embassy in London. She now appealed against a decision that the respondent had diplomatic immunity.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.86316

Bank of Scotland v A Ltd and Others (Serious Fraud Office, Interested Party): CA 6 Feb 2001

A bank, having been informed that the activities of a customer involved money laundering, found itself in a position where, if it paid out the funds, it would face conviction, but if it failed to do so, it be found to be involved in tipping off the customer.
Held: This is one of the few situations where an application could be made to court for a declaration. The appropriate defendant was the Serious Fraud Office, not the customer. The court would not normally be willing to grant a declaration to save a citizen who was faced with a normal even if difficult commercial decision. Discussing legal privilege: ‘During argument there was discussion as to the extent of the defence provided by section 93D(4). Mr Crow helpfully drew our attention to the similarity between the language of section 93D(4) and the scope of legal professional privilege. Based on this assistance, we conclude that the subsection broadly protects a legal adviser when that adviser is engaged in activities which attract legal professional privilege.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf CJ

Citations:

Times 06-Feb-2001, Gazette 01-Mar-2001, [2001] 1 WLR 754, [2001] EWCA Civ 52

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 93A 93B 93C

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – P v P (Ancillary Relief: Proceeds of Crime) FD 8-Oct-2003
The parties sought guidance from the court on the circumstances which arose in ancillary relief proceedings where a legal representative came to believe that one party might be holding the proceeds of crime. In the course of ancillary relief . .
Cited – P v P (Ancillary Relief: Proceeds of Crime) FD 8-Oct-2003
The parties sought guidance from the court on the circumstances which arose in ancillary relief proceedings where a legal representative came to believe that one party might be holding the proceeds of crime. In the course of ancillary relief . .
Cited – Amalgamated Metal Trading Ltd v City of London Police Financial Investigation Unit and others ComC 3-Apr-2003
The company provided trading services in financial futures. They became concerned as to the integrity of their client, and its relationship with shareholders and other companies where parties came to be arrested for fraud in the US. They sought a . .
Cited – K Ltd v National Westminster Bank Plc and others CA 19-Jul-2006
The bank had declined to act upon a customer’s instructions, reporting its suspicions of criminal activity to the police. Permission was given to proceed but only after a delay. The claimant customer sought its costs.
Held: The customer’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Banking

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.78158

Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Harris (Stephen David): QBD 24 Feb 1999

Cash seized under drug trafficking laws but not ordered for forfeiture could not be ordered for release to fund the defence of the associated criminal charges. Magistrates courts are creatures of statute. Powers could not be implied where none stated.

Citations:

Times 24-Feb-1999

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.79385

Director of Public Prosecutions, Regina (on The Applications of) v Crown Court At Woolwich: Admn 26 Nov 2020

‘These two unconnected claims for judicial review raise issues about the correct approach in the criminal courts to applications to extend custody time limits (‘CTLs’) during the Covid-19 pandemic.’

Judges:

The Lord Burnett of Maldon CJ and Lord Justice Holroyde

Citations:

[2020] EWHC 3243 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.656494

Rex v Dyson: 1831

Parke J empanelled a jury to decide whether the defendant was fit to plead. In directing the jury the judge referred to the following passage in Hale’s Pleas of the Crown, vol I, p 34: ‘If a man in his sound memory commits a capital offence, and before his arraignment he becomes absolutely mad, he ought not by law to be arraigned during such his phrensy, but be remitted to prison until that incapacity be removed.’

Judges:

Parke J

Citations:

Unreported, 1831

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Mentioned – Rex v Pritchard 21-Mar-1836
A person, deaf and dumb, was to be tried for a capital felony the Judge ordered a Jury to be impanneled, to try whether he was mute by the visitation of God, the jury found that he was so. The jury were then sworn to try whether he was able to . .
Cited – Brown v The Queen PC 9-Feb-2016
Court of Appeal of Jamaica – Appeal against conviction for murder – challenge as to capacity to plead.
Held: The appeal against conviction failed, but the appeal against sentence succeeded. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.559692

Regina v Flower: 1966

Widgery J said that the practice of the Court where an appellant escapes is either ‘to adjourn the appeal or dismiss it according to the justice of the case.’

Judges:

Widgery J

Citations:

[1966] 50 Cr App R 34

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Okedare, Regina v CACD 27-Feb-2014
The court heard applications for leave to appeal on behalf of applicants who had either absconded or disappeared.
Held: The court considered whether the lawyers filing the appeals had authority, whether express or implied. ‘we are satisfied . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.544627

McGreevy v Director of Public Prosecutions: HL 1973

No Need for Direction on Circumstantial Evidence

M was charged with murdering Margaret Magee in her house. no one claimed to have seen the murder and the evidence was entirely circumstantial. When he was first tried, the jury failed to reach a verdict, but at a subsequent trial he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal to the court of criminal appeal was dismissed and he was granted leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The point of Law certified was: ‘whether at a criminal trial with the jury in which the case against the accused depends wholly or substantially on circumstantial evidence, it is the duty of the trial judge not only to tell the jury generally that they must be satisfied of the Guilt of the accused to beyond reasonable doubt, but also to give them a special Direction by telling them in Express terms that before they can find the accused guilty they must be satisfied not only that the circumstances are consistent with this having committed the crime but also that the facts proved are such as to be inconsistent with any other reasonable conclusion.’
Held: There is no requirement, in cases in which the prosecution’s case is based on circumstantial evidence that the judge direct the jury to acquit unless they are sure of the facts proved are not only consistent with guilt but also inconsistent with any other reasonable conclusion. The question for the jury is whether the facts as they find them to be drive them to the conclusion, so that they are sure, that the defendant is guilty.
There is no rule of law that requires the trial judge to give an explanation as to the difference between proof by direct evidence and proof by circumstances leading to a compelling inference of guilt, or any requirement to use any particular form of words. It depends upon the nature of the case and the evidence.
Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest said: ‘The particular form and style of a summing up, provided it contains what must on any view be certain essential elements, must depend not only upon the particular features of a particular case, but also upon the view formed by a judge as to the form and style that will be fair and reasonable and helpful. The solemn function of those concerned in a criminal trial is to clear the innocent and to convict the guilty. It is, however, not for the judge but for the jury to decide what evidence is to be accepted and what conclusion should be drawn from it. It is not to be assumed that members of a jury will abandon their reasoning powers and, having decided that they accept as true some particular piece of evidence, will not proceed further to consider whether the effect of that piece of evidence is to point to guilt or is neutral or is to point to innocence. Nor is it to be assumed that in the process of weighing up a great many separate pieces of evidence will forget the fundamental direction, if carefully given to them, that they must not convict unless they are satisfied that guilt has been proved and has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt.’
Lord Morris said: ‘in my view, the basic necessity before guilt of a criminal charge can be pronounced is that the jury are satisfied of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt. so this is a conception that a jury can readily understand and buy clear exposition can readily be made to understand. so also can a jury readily understand that from one piece of evidence which they accept various influences might be drawn. it requires no more than ordinary common sense or a jury to understand that if one suggested inference from an accepted piece of evidence leads to a conclusion of guilt and another suggested inference to a conclusion of innocence a jury could not on that piece of evidence alone be satisfied of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt unless they holy rejected and excluded the latter suggestion.

Judges:

Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest

Citations:

[1973] 1 WLR 276, [1973] 57 Cr App R 424, [1973] 1 All ER 503

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Kelly v Regina CACD 15-May-2015
Appeal against a conviction for murder brought upon one issue, namely whether a failure by the prosecution to make proper disclosure under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 rendered the trial of the appellant unfair and the verdict . .
Cited – Regina v Fergus CACD 29-Jun-1993
A judge should withdraw a case which was based on poor identification evidence, and the prosecution must be sure to disclose all identification evidence. ‘In a case dependent on visual identification, and particularly where that is the only . .
Cited – Yaryare and Others v Regina CACD 13-Oct-2020
Appeal from convictions of public order offences – challenges to use of identification evidence. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Crime

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.546834

Trustunion Llc and Another, Re Recall of A Restraint Order: SCS 16 Apr 2015

Recall of a restraint order granted on the Petition at the instance of Her Majesty’s Advocate in terms of the Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995 s. 28 whereby the first Noter was interdicted from dealing with its realisable property including specifically the dwelling house

Citations:

[2015] ScotCS CSOH – 38

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Proceeds of Crime (Scotland) Act 1995 28

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.546809

Regina v Paul: CACD 2013

The defendant complained that even though no closing speech had been made on his behalf, the judge had allowed prosecuting counsel to make a closing speech.
Held: There is a convention that prosecuting counsel should not make a closing address where the defence has not made one.
MacDuff J said: ‘There is a high responsibility on trial judges and trial counsel to guard against breaching this convention. Although we call it ‘a convention’, it is in fact something more, and we need to consider the authorities.’
Rose LJ doubted that the convention was still good practice.

Judges:

MacDuff J

Citations:

[2013] EWCA Crim 978

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Rabani, Regina v CACD 21-Aug-2008
The defendant appealed against his conviction. He had not been represented at trial, and several objections were taken to the conduct of the case, and in particular that prosecuting counsel had made a closing address, and that he had not been . .

Cited by:

Cited – Cojan, Regina v CACD 25-Nov-2014
The defendant appealed against his convictions for offences of rape and robbery. Towards the end of his trial, he had sacked his legal team, and had given no colsing address. He complained that the judge had even so allowed the prosecutor to ake an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.540504

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 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

Regina v Townsend: 1982

Where a judge in a criminal trial received a note from the jury as to voting intentions, it would have both been possible and appropriate for the judge to tell counsel that he had a note showing unanimity on some counts and a division of opinion on others and inviting submissions as to the course to be followed in relation to the taking of verdicts and the giving of a majority direction.

Citations:

[1982] 74 Crim App R 218

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Tantram; Regina v Bibby etc CACD 24-May-2001
The defendants appealed against their convictions for conspiracy in have combined to put into the human food chain poultry meat which had been condemned as unfit. The jury after retiremen had indicated that they had reached agreement on some . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.534460

Regina v Challenger and Nye: 1982

When the jury is being directed to consider the issue of character, whether as to propensity or credibility, a primary consideration is that they should not be misled.

Citations:

[1982] 75 Cr App R 247

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – GAI v Regina CACD 5-Oct-2012
The defendant’s appeal based on the absence of a good character direction had succeeded. The court now gave its reasons.
Held: After reviewing the authorities, the appeal succeeded: ‘the learned judge was wrong to find that the fact that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.523879

Amann v Switzerland: ECHR 16 Feb 2000

(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence.
Held: The holding and use of the information in question had not been ‘in accordance with the law’, as required by article 8(2), because of the absence from the relevant national legislation of adequate protection against arbitrary interference.

Judges:

Mrs E Palm P

Citations:

(2000) 30 EHRR 843, [2000] ECHR 88, 27052/95

Links:

Worldlii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 5 6.1

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Citing:

Conjoined Hearing – Jasper v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
Grand Chamber – The defendants had been convicted after the prosecution had withheld evidence from them and from the judge under public interest immunity certificates. They complained that they had not had fair trials.
Held: The right was . .
Conjoined Hearing – Fitt v United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence. . .
Conjoined Hearing – Rowe and Davis v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
(Grand Chamber) Complaint as to non-disclosure of prosecution evidence. . .
See Also – Amann v Switzerland ECHR 16-Feb-2000
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8 with regard to interception of telephone call; Violation of Art. 8 with regard to creation and storing of information card; Preliminary objection . .

Cited by:

Conjoined Hearing – Jasper v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Feb-2000
Grand Chamber – The defendants had been convicted after the prosecution had withheld evidence from them and from the judge under public interest immunity certificates. They complained that they had not had fair trials.
Held: The right was . .
Cited – Beghal v Director of Public Prosecutions SC 22-Jul-2015
Questions on Entry must be answered
B was questioned at an airport under Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act, and required to answer questions asked by appropriate officers for the purpose set out. She refused to answer and was convicted of that refusal , contrary to paragraph 18 of that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.471639

Regina v Shiraj Patel: CACD 2009

The court considered the powers available to it where leave to appeal to it appeared to have been obtained by deception.

Citations:

[2009] EWCA Crim 1133

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Patel, Re Defendant’s Cost Order CACD 6-Jul-2012
The defendant had been granted a defendant costs order, but he had not complied with the Rules by first outlining the type of costs and amount claimed’ and the Court had not required compliance. He had successfully appealed against a conviction for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.513672

H v Spain: ECHR 1982

(Commission) An American citizen whose extradition from Spain was sought by the United States, complained that he had had inadequate legal representation and interpretation before the Audiencia Nacional.
Held: The complaint was inadmissible. Extradition proceedings do not involve the ‘determination of a criminal charge’ within article 6(1), because in this context ‘the word ‘determination’ involves the full process of the examination of an individual’s guilt or innocence of an offence’

Citations:

10227/82

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6(1)

Jurisdiction:

Human Rights

Cited by:

Cited – Lukaszewski v The District Court In Torun, Poland SC 23-May-2012
Three of the appellants were Polish citizens resisting European Arrest Warrants. A fourth (H), a British citizen, faced extradition to the USA. An order for the extradition of eachhad been made, and acting under advice each filed a notice of appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Criminal Practice, Extradition

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.463305

Regina v Rose and Others: CACD 1982

The court considered the effect of an irregularity in a trial and how it should be dealt with.

Judges:

Lord Lane CJ

Citations:

[1982] 1 WLR 614, [1982] 2 All ER 536

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Rose and Others HL 2-Jan-1982
Jurisdiction of CACD for Venire de Novo writ
The House considered what should be the consequences of a radical or fundamental error in the trial process, and whether there was jurisdiction in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division to order a venire de novo when the court was satisfied that a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.450343

Regina v Perren: CACD 2009

The defendant appealed against his conviction, saying that the judge had prejudiced his trial.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Toulson LJ emphasised ‘that it is for the prosecution to cross-examine, not for the judge’, and that ‘the right time for the prosecution to cross-examine is after a witness has given his evidence-in-chief. It would be unthinkable for prosecuting counsel to jump up in the middle of a witness’ evidence-in-chief and seek to conduct some hostile cross-examination.’
He continued: ‘The appellant’s story may have been highly improbable, but he was entitled to explain it to the jury without being subjected to sniper fire in the course of doing so. The potential for injustice is that if the jury, at the very time when they are listening to the witness giving his narrative account of events, do so to the accompaniment of questions from the Bench indicating to anybody with common sense that the judge does not believe a word of it, this may affect the mind of the jury as they listen to the account.
We have been driven in this case to the regretful conclusion that the nature and extent of interventions over the three days in which the appellant gave his evidence deprived him of the opportunity of having his evidence considered by the jury in the way that he was entitled. The conclusion from that is that we do not consider that he received the quality of fair trial to which he was entitled.’

Judges:

Toulson LJ

Citations:

(2009) EWCA Cr App 348

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Michel v The Queen (The Court of Appeal of Jersey) PC 4-Nov-2009
michel_rPC2009
(Jersey) The defendant appealed, complaining that the number and character of the judge’s interventions in his trial for money laundering had made it unfair.
Held: The conviction was quashed and the case remitted for a decision as to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.377806

Regina v Austin and others: CACD 16 May 2008

The defendants sought leave to appeal against convictions for conspiracy to supply drugs. The prosecutor relied on surveillance evidence showing meetings and telephone calls between the defendants; evidence from recording devices in defendants’ cars; evidence of money transfers, and he placed reliance on telephone intercept material. This material was in the form of recordings of mobile phone conversations said to have been made by intelligence agencies in Colombia; and recordings on cassette of conversations between a defendant in England and a defendant on a Colombian landline, again said to have been made in Colombia. Disclosure of intercept evidence gathered outside the United Kingdom is not prohibited under section 17 RIPA. The defendants challenged the admissibility of the intercept evidence on the ground that there was no evidence that it had been obtained by Colombian rather than British authorities. They further argued that even if it was obtained by Colombian authorities, there was evidence that it had been altered and fabricated and so was unreliable and should not be admitted. The judge ruled that the intercepts were made in Colombia and that their reliability was a matter for the jury. He gave a later ruling that, in light of the strictures of section 17 RIPA, the defence at trial could only suggest the negative, i.e. that the recordings had not been made in Colombia, and not the positive, i.e. that the recordings had been made in the United Kingdom and therefore infringed RIPA. The defendants appealed, arguing that the interpretation of section 17 by the judge did not accord with the House of Lords judgment in Attorney General’s Reference No 5 of 2002.
Held: It was arguable that the judge’s approach was too restrictive in law and that some investigation of whether the intercepts were made in the UK may have been permissible.

Citations:

[2008] EWCA Crim 1183

Statutes:

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 17 18

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 5 of 2002) HL 14-Oct-2004
The Attorney General sought the correct interpretation of section 17 where a court was asked as to whether evidence obtained from a telephone tapping had been taken from a public or private network. A chief constable suspected that the defendants, . .

Cited by:

Cited – Knaggs v The United Kingdom ECHR 14-Jan-2009
The claimants had been prosecuted following authorised intrusive surveillance. They challenged the laws which prevented them from asking questions about interception, and therefore from defending themselves. The defendants said that the police had . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.372613

Regina v Boyes: 1860

A witness, an accomplice in a criminal offence, who has received the pardon of the Crown under the Great Seal for that offence, has no privilege of refusing to answer questions relating to the offence, which may tend to criminate himself. He is bound to answer.

Citations:

[1860] EngR 170, (1860) 2 F and F 157, (1860) 175 ER 1004

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Boyes 27-May-1861
A defendant seeking to avoid answering questions so as not to incriminate himself is to be given some understanding and latitude in respecting his own interpretation. The beneficiary of a pardon could be called upon to incriminate himself because he . .
Cited – Beghal v Director of Public Prosecutions SC 22-Jul-2015
Questions on Entry must be answered
B was questioned at an airport under Schedule 7 to the 2000 Act, and required to answer questions asked by appropriate officers for the purpose set out. She refused to answer and was convicted of that refusal , contrary to paragraph 18 of that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.285009

Rex v Hopkins-Husson: 1949

Lord Goddard C discussed the ability of the criminal court of appeal to set aside a conviction in exceptional cases where the verdict was ‘one which no reasonable tribunal could have found.’ He said: ‘[T]he fact that some members or all the members of [this] court think that they themselves would have returned a different verdict is . . no ground for refusing to accept the verdict of the jury, which is the constitutional method of trial in this country. If there is evidence to go to the jury, and there has been no misdirection, and it cannot be said that the verdict is one which a reasonable jury could not arrive at, this court will not set aside the verdict of guilty which has been found by the jury.’

Judges:

Lord Goddard C

Citations:

(1949) 34 Cr App R 47

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Attorney General for Jersey v O’Brien (Jersey) PC 14-Feb-2006
(Court of Appeal of Jersey) The appellant had been convicted of laundering the proceeds of her husband’s drug trafficking. The Attorney-General now appealed against her successful appeal on sentence and confiscation order. Both she and her husband . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.279058

Regina v Arnold: CMAC 16 May 2008

The prosecution sought to appeal.
Held: The prosecutor could not appeal unless it had before informing the court of its intention to appeal, informed the accused that if leave to appeal was not given, he would be acquitted of the charges.

Judges:

Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Treacy and Sir Peter Cresswell

Citations:

Times 13-Jun-2008

Statutes:

Courts-Martial (Prosecution Appeals) Order (SI 2006 No 1786), Criminal Justice Act 2003 58(4) 58(6)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Armed Forces, Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.277727

Regina v Cuthbertson: HL 1981

With ‘considerable regret’, the power of forfeiture and destruction conferred on the court by section 27 of 1971 Act did not apply to offences of conspiracy, and could not be used to provide a means of stripping professional drug-traffickers of the whole of their ill-gotten gains or the total profits of their unlawful enterprises. The forfeiture power applied only to tangible property (including drugs, apparatus, vehicles and ‘cash ready to be, or having just been, handed over for them’). It did not apply to intangible property, or to property situate abroad, and it did not authorise the court to follow or trace assets which could have been forfeited (but for the fact that they had been exchanged) into the other assets for which they had been exchanged.
Lord Diplock said: ‘Under English rules of conflict of laws it is in my view well established that an English court has no jurisdiction either in a criminal or a civil matter to make orders purporting ipso jure to transfer moveable property situate abroad.’

Judges:

Lord Diplock

Citations:

[1981] AC 470, [1980] 2 All ER 401, [1980] 3 WLR 89, (1980) 71 Cr App R 148

Statutes:

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 27

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – May, Regina v HL 14-May-2008
The defendant had been convicted of involvement in a substantial VAT fraud, and made subject to a confiscation order. He was made subject to a confiscation order in respect of the amounts lost to the fraud where he was involved, but argued that the . .
Cited – Perry and Others v Serious Organised Crime Agency SC 25-Jul-2012
The first appellant had been convicted of substantial frauds in Israel. He appealed against world wide asset freezing (PFO) and disclosure (DO) orders made against him. Neither the appellant, nor his offences were connected with the UK. A bank . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.267674

Regina v Soffe: CACD 1982

The defendant sought leave to appeal saying that the 1971 rules had not been followed in preferring the bill of indictment.
Held: The breach was not a material irregularity. The application of the rules was a matter for the judge, and not for the defendant to make representations. The rules were directory, and not mandatory.

Citations:

(1982) 75 Cr App R 133, Times 09-Jun-1982

Statutes:

Indictment (Procedure) Rules 1971 (1971 No 2084) 5

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Applied – Regina v Farooki CACD 1983
The judge had allowed a 56 day extension to the time for preferring the bill of indictment against the defendant. There were further delays outside the extended period. The judge refused to quash the indictment at trial.
Held: The 1971 rules . .
Cited – Clarke, Regina v; Regina v McDaid HL 6-Feb-2008
An indictment had not been signed despite a clear statutory provision that it should be. The defects were claimed to have been cured by amendment before sentence.
Held: The convictions failed. Sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the 1933 Act which . .
Considered – Regina v Laming CACD 1989
The defendant appealed saying that the court clerk had signed the indictment in the wrong place.
Held: The signature had been intended to validate the indictment. The appeal failed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.267626

Re Molloy’s Application: CANI 1998

Judges:

Carswell LCJ

Citations:

[1998] NI 78

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Derby Crown Court, ex parte Brooks QBD 1985
The court set out the characteristics of abuse of process in criminal matters. It may be an abuse of process if: ‘the prosecution have manipulated or misused the process of the court so as to deprive the defendant of a protection provided by the law . .
Cited – Regina v Brentford Justices Ex parte Wong QBD 1981
The defendant had been involved in a traffic accident. Very shortly before the expiry of the six month time limit, the prosecutor issued a careless driving summons apparently in order to preserve the possibility of a prosecution without yet having . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Northern Ireland

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.263209

Regina v Brentford Justices Ex parte Wong: QBD 1981

The defendant had been involved in a traffic accident. Very shortly before the expiry of the six month time limit, the prosecutor issued a careless driving summons apparently in order to preserve the possibility of a prosecution without yet having made his mind up to continue. He decided to continue only three months later. The defendant argued that this was an abuse of process, and that he had been prejudiced by the delay. The prosecutor denied that magistrates had jurisdiction to hear such an argument. The magistrates acceded to this but indicated that if they had had such a jurisdiction, they would have accepted that there had been abuse. The defendant appealed.
Held: Magistrates do have a jurisdiction to hear and deteremine an application based on abuse of process. The case was remitted to the magistrates to consider the application.
Donaldson LJ said: ‘For my part, I think that it is open to justices to conclude that it is an abuse of the process of the court for a prosecutor to lay an information when he has not reached a decision to prosecute. The process of laying an information is, I think, assumed by Parliament to be the first stage in a continuous process of bringing a prosecution. Section 104 of the 1952 Act is designed to ensure that prosecutions shall be brought within a reasonable time. That purpose is wholly frustrated if it is possible for a prosecutor to obtain summonses and then, in his own good time and at his convenience, serve them. Of course there may be delays in service of the summonses due perhaps to the evasiveness of the defendant. There may be delays due to administrative reasons which are excusable, but that is not so in this case.’

Judges:

Donaldson LJ

Citations:

[1981] 1 All ER 884, [1981] 2 WLR 203, (1981) 73 Cr App R 67, [1981] QB 445

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Chief Inspector Shields v Devenney CANI 21-Jan-2005
. .
Cited – Re Molloy’s Application CANI 1998
. .
Cited – Regina v Bow Street Magistrates ex parte Kazuhiro Sakashita and Takumi Hashimoto Admn 15-Oct-1996
. .
Cited – Regina v Aylesbury Justices ex parte Kitching and GBS Estates Limited Admn 9-May-1997
The defendant had been convicted of felling trees without a licence. He claimed to have received assurances from the Forestry Commission that he would not be prosecuted. He said the prosecution was an abuse of process. The magistrates held that . .
Cited – Hamilton Jones v David and Snape (a Firm) ChD 19-Dec-2003
The claimant was represented by the respondent firm of solicitors in an action for custody of her children. Through their negligence the children had been removed from the country. She sought damages for the distress of losing her children.
Cited – Regina v Horseferry Road Magistrates’ Court, ex Parte Bennett (No 1) HL 24-Jun-1993
The defendant had been brought to the UK in a manner which was in breach of extradition law. He had, in effect, been kidnapped by the authorities.
Held: The High Court may look at how an accused person was brought within the jurisdiction when . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.263208

In Re Hooker: Admn 1993

Citations:

[1993] COD 190

Statutes:

Administration of Justice Act 1960 13

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Haw and Another v City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court Admn 12-Dec-2007
The defendants appealed convictions for contempt of court, on the basis of having wilfully interrupted the court. The respondent said that no appeal lay.
Held: The statute was ambiguous, and ‘there can be no good reason why a person convicted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Criminal Practice, Contempt of Court

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.263632

Regina v Barrell and Wilson: CACD 1979

The court set out the test for whether charges could properly be rejoined after severance on the indictment.

Citations:

(1979) 69 Cr App R 620

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Hamilton, Regina v CACD 16-Aug-2007
The defendant appealed his conviction for outraging public decency. He had surreptitously filmed up the skirts of women in a supermarket. The offence was only discovered after the films were found on a search of his home for other material. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.258846