swarb.co.uk - law index
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Criminal Evidence - From: 1990 To: 1990
This page lists 5 cases, and was prepared on 21 May 2019.
Regina v Cole (1990) 90 Cr App R 478
1990
CACD
Criminal Evidence
Criminal Justice Act 1988
1 Citers
Regina v Horne; CACD 1990 - [1990] Crim LR 188
Regina v Absolam (1988) 89 Cr App R 332; [1990] CLY 789
1990
CACD
Bingham LJ
Criminal Evidence, Police
A was arrested. He was already on bail for possession of cannabis, and in the hope finding further evidence he was asked to empty his pockets, 'and put the drugs on the table' he did so and admitted selling drugs. Held: The procedure should only have followed the giving of a caution. This was precisely the situation sought to be avoided by the Code of Practice, and the breach was not remedied by the subsequent caution. The passage should have been excluded. If the judge had thought there were significant and substantial breaches all the answers might have been excluded.
Bingham LJ said: "The learned judge further held that the series of questions and answers . . were not an interview. It is of course plain that this was not in any formal sense a conventional interview, but equally in our judgment it is plain that it was an interview within the purview of the Code, in that it was a series of questions directed by the police to a suspect with a view to obtaining admissions on which proceedings could be founded."
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 78(1)
1 Citers
Regina v Delaney (1989) 88 Cr App R 338; [1990] CLY 788
11 Jan 1990
CACD
Criminal Evidence
Delaney was 18 and with a low IQ. On first interview for indecent assault, he denied the offence, but later came to admit it. The police admitted first minimising the seriousness of the offence, but he alleged greater pressure, resulting in a later confession. The first interview was not recorded until the following day. Held: The judge should not have admitted the confession. Though the breach did not directly affect the confession, it left the court unable properly to resolve what had happened, and the conviction was quashed.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 66
1 Citers
Windisch v Austria [1990] ECHR 23; [1993] ECHR 31; 12489/86; (1990) 13 EHRR 281; [1993] ECHR 31; [1990] ECHR 23
27 Sep 1990
ECHR
Human Rights, Criminal Evidence
cs W was convicted of burglary on the evidence of a mother and daughter, who gave statements without their identity being revealed. Held: The court recited various principles in the following terms:- "All the evidence must in principle be produced in the presence of the accused at a public hearing with a view to adversarial argument. However, the use as evidence of statements obtained at the pre-trial stage is not always inconsistent with paragraph (3)(d)(i) of Article 6, provided the right to the defence had been respected. As a rule, these rights require that the defendant be given an adequate and proper opportunity to challenge and question a witness against him, either when he was making a statement or at a later stage of the proceedings." However:- "Being unaware of their identity, the defence was confronted with an almost insurmountable handicap: it was deprived of the necessary information permitting it to test the witnesses' reliability or cast doubt on their credibility." The court recognised the interests of the two women and the interests and importance of the collaboration of the public in the police's struggle against crime, but referred to the right to the fair administration of justice holding "so prominent a place in a democratic society that it cannot be sacrificed." The court stressed that the identification made by the two anonymous witnesses was "the only evidence indicating the applicant's presence on the scene of the crime." In the result the court held that the trial court relied "to a large extent" on this evidence. It held there had been a breach of Article 6.
1 Citers
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