Each defendant appealed on the basis that they had not had proper opportunity to cross examine prosecution witnesses whose evidence had been accepted by the court. In each case evidence had been hearsay. In two cases, the witness had died before trial, in the third the witness did not attend for fear, and in the fourth the evidence was from a company’s records.
Held: The court must under the 1998 Act take notice of the judgment of the ECHR, but was not directly bound by it. The new point was whether the evidence admitted was ‘sole or decisive’. Where there was an absent but unidentified witness there was no absolute rule that no counterbalancing measures could preserve a fair trial. The court had to be sure that sufficient counterbalancing measures were in place. Some of the appeals were allowed.
Judges:
Lord Justice Thomas, Lord Justice Hughes, Mr Justice Penry-Davey, Mr Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Wyn Williams
Citations:
[2009] EWCA Crim 964, [2009] 4 All ER 183, [2009] 2 Cr App R 15
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice Act 2003 114, Human Rights Act 1998, European Convention on Human Rights 6
Citing:
Cited – Al-Khawaja v The United Kingdom; Tahery v The United Kingdom ECHR 20-Jan-2009
Each complainant said that in allowing hearsay evidence to be used against them at their trials, their article 6 human rights had been infringed. In the first case the complainant had died before trial but her statement was admitted.
Held: In . .
Cited by:
Cited – DT, Regina v (Absent witness: Evidence) CACD 4-Jun-2009
The defendant appealed against his conviction. He said that a witness could not be found and therefore did not attend the trial, but her statement had nevertheless been admitted as hearsay evidence.
Held: The right of a defendant to confront a . .
Appeal from – 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.
Criminal Evidence, Human Rights
Updated: 26 July 2022; Ref: scu.346312