The court considered the use of bad character evidence based upon one previous alleged incident from which no prosecution had followed. The appellant had been convicted of murder in a public house in Woolwich. He struck the victim in the neck with a glass and this caused fatal injuries. The prosecution alleged that this had been a deliberate attack. The appellant claimed that he was acting in self-defence. Only a few days earlier, he had been involved in a similar incident at a different public house which was called ‘The Great Harry’. On that occasion he had broken a glass and used it to cause injuries to three men. The Crown applied for leave to admit evidence of the incident in The Great Harry. In acceding to that application, the judge said that ‘the jury will have to be sure of the facts before they can use them, applying the criminal burden and standard of proof’. In directing the jury about the earlier incident, she said that the prosecution relied on three relevant matters – that the appellant had deliberately broken a glass; that he used it with the intention of causing really serious harm; and that he had done so unlawfully. The judge then said, ‘If you are not sure of any of those facts, the events in The Great Harry are irrelevant to your deliberations on the charge of murder’.
Held: The direction to the jury was approved.
Citations:
[2008] EWCA Crim 585
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Mitchell, Regina v SC 19-Oct-2016
Appeal against conviction for murder. Evidence was agreed with her representatives as to previous acts using knives, but was presented despite withdrawal by her of her consent. The prosecution now appealed against the quashing of the conviction.
Applied – Mitchell, Regina v CANI 30-Apr-2015
Appeal from conviction for murder. The conviction had been obtained after evidence was led as to previous occasions on which the defendant was said to have used knives in violent encounters as evidence of bad character.
Held: Leave to appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Evidence
Updated: 17 June 2022; Ref: scu.266218