The Crown appealed against a stay imposed on its prosecution of the defendant accused of possessing and creating indecent images of children. It had refused to provide access to the materials to the extent required by the defence to allow it to prepare its case. CPS said that it feared that an officer might himself be prosecuted for an offence under the Act:
Held: The appeal failed. The CPS approach was extraordinary in failing to obey the court order. The court could not imagine circumstances under which an officer might be prosecuted for obeying the court order. The judge had carefully considered the objections and difficulties put forward by the prosecution in making his order: ‘The cases are likely to be very few and far between where his order is so inimical to the interest of justice that no judge could reasonably have made it, so that the Crown can properly refuse, courteously, to comply, and then challenge the consequent stay by appeal to this court. That, however, is not this case, and indeed is very far from it.’
Lord Judge LCJ, Wilkie J, Maddison J
[2010] EWCA Crim 924, [2010] 3 All ER 969, [2010] 2 Cr App R 9
Bailii
Criminal Justice Act 2003 58
England and Wales
Criminal Practice
Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.414595
