The defendant had obtained a psychiatric report through his solicitors. The report was adverse, and he did not call the expert. Instead the Crown applied and had the same expert give evidence. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: The doctor’s position, having been instructed by the solicitors for the purposes of the proceedings, was privileged as was the solicitor’s own knowledge. There is no property in a witness, but her evidence relied upon material protected by privilege. The defendant was to be protected from accidentally incriminating himself, and he was entitled to assume that what was said to a doctor instructed by his lawyers was just as protected as what was said to them.
May, Goldring, Gross LLJ
Times 04-Mar-2002, Gazette 06-Mar-2002, [2002] EWCA Crim 85, [2002] 1 WLR 1806
Bailii
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 10(1)(b)
England and Wales
Updated: 22 October 2021; Ref: scu.167721
