PC (New Zealand) In each case the defendants had sought and been refused legal aid to appeal against some aspect of their conviction. The system for deciding upon whether they should be granted legal aid did not allow for their participation. They also alleged that the full appeal was then heard again without their involvement and on the basis that since the application for legal aid had been refused, the case was without merit, and the appeal itself was also refused.
Held: The system did not properly implement that statute which had been brought in to correct defects in the court practice. Varying orders were made for the several individual cases.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Steyn Lord Hope of Craighead Lord Hutton Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
[2002] EWPC 14, [2002] UKPC 15
PC, PC, Bailii, PC
England and Wales
Updated: 10 September 2021; Ref: scu.168106