The defendant appealed his conviction for possession of a firearm, complaining that the statement of his co-accused had not been admitted. The judge saying that since the co-accused had admitted the offence he had no jurisdiction to admit the statement or to admit it as hearsay.
Held: Having pleaded guilty, the co-accused was no longer on trial. The defendant might have called him as an adverse witness, but had chosen not to do so. The co-accused’s reluctance to appear and support the statement he had given questioned his credibility. The appeal failed.
Judges:
Lord Justice Hughes, Mrs Justice Rafferty and Sir Charles Mantell
Citations:
Times 22-Jan-2007, [2007] EWCA Crim 36, [2007] 1 Cr App Rep 33, [2007] 1 WLR 1645
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice Act 2003 128(1), Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 76A
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – 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
Updated: 01 May 2022; Ref: scu.248198