Her Majesty’s Advocate v Coulson: HCJ 1 Jun 2015

Note. The accused faced a charge of perjury. In an earlier trial, itself for perjury, the defender (the first defender), acting without legal representation had called the now accused to give evidence as to whether accused, as editor of the News of the World, had known that his staff were hacking the first defender’s telephones. The accused had denied it. The Crown now alleged that this denial was false, and charged him with perjury. He argued that the claim was irrelevant because any perjury was not as to an issue central to the case or as to ceridibility.
Held: Despite holding an evidential hearing for the purpose, the crown had quite failed to bring evidence as to the relevance of the charge.

Judges:

Lord Noble

Links:

Scot Courts

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Citing:

CitedLord Advocate’s Reference (No 1 of 1985) HCJ 1986
The Court a claim as to the relevancy of an indictment of perjury.
Held:
Lord Justice General Emslie said: ‘All that is required is that it should be clearly understood that a charge of perjury will not lie unless the evidence alleged to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Updated: 03 August 2022; Ref: scu.547554