The court discussed when it was appropriate for the Court of Appeal to substitute other lesser convictions, after the main conviction had been declared unsafe.
Held: After studying the authorities at length, the court felt that the various convictions should be quashed, but that in some cases there was a possibility of substituting verdicts of guilty of lesser offences.
Lord Bingham CJ said: ‘It is apparent that conditions which permit the Court to order a re-trial are two fold: the Court must allow the appeal and consider that the interests of justice require a re-trial. The first condition is either satisfied or is not. The second requires an exercise of judgment, and will involve the consideration of the public interest and the legitimate interests of the defendant. The public interest is generally served by the prosecution of those reasonably suspected on available evidence of serious crime, if such prosecution can be conducted without unfairness to or oppression of the defendant. The legitimate interests of the defendant will often call for consideration of the time which has passed since the alleged offence, and any penalty the defendant may have already paid before the quashing of the conviction.’
Judges:
Bingham LCJ
Citations:
Gazette 27-Nov-1996, Times 28-Oct-1996, [1996] EWCA Crim 1211, (1997) 1 Cr App R 302
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Appeal Act 1995, Theft Act 1968 15(1), Criminal Appeal Act 1968 3
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v McHugh CACD 1977
The defendant was convicted of theft. It was suggested that he might have been guilty of obtaining by deception. The court considered it ‘a purely technical question whether at the end of the day the proper offence is one of theft or obtaining by . .
Cited – Regina v Molyneux CACD 1981
A statutory conspiracy had been misdescribed as a common law conspiracy; the particulars of the offence were properly set out but a reference to the relevant statute was omitted.
Held: On appeal the defect was in fact favourable to the . .
Cited – Regina v Ayres HL 1984
The defendant was charged with a common law conspiracy. It had been held that the only proper charge was of conspiracy to obtain by deception. The defendant was convicted upon an indictment which did not charge him accurately with the only offence . .
Cited – Regina v Pickford CACD 1995
The defendant pleaded guilty to inciting a boy who might have been under 14 at the time to commit incest with the boy’s mother. On appeal it was argued that the defendant had pleaded guilty to an offence unknown to the law, since if the boy had been . .
Cited – Regina v Deacon CACD 1973
The court emphasised it did not have power to substitute a verdict on more general grounds i.e. when it was satisfied that the alternative verdict would have been inevitable had the case been properly presented to the jury. In considering section . .
Cited – Regina v Lillis CACD 1972
The court considered the intent of section 6(3) of the 1967 Act. Lawton LJ said: ‘Before the passing of the 1967 Act, the law (on alternative verdicts) was partly to be found in the common law and partly in a number of statutes. At common law on an . .
Cited – Regina v Wilson (Clarence); Regina v Jenkins HL 1983
The court considered the application of the section on alternative verdicts available to juries on a trial for attempted murder. The allegations in a charge under section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 or under section 9(1)(b) of the . .
Cited – Regina v Caslin CCA 1961
The court considered its ability to substitute a conviction for a lesser offence on appeal after finding the conviction unsafe.
Held: ‘the jurisdiction of this court does not depend upon whether the judge did in fact sum up on the alternative . .
Cited – Regina v Mallett CACD 1978
The defendant car dealer had made out and used a hire-purchase agreement form which falsely stated that the hirer had been a company director for a named company for several years. Relying on the information, a finance company financed the . .
Cited – Rex v Hollingberry 1825
The court considered an allegation that the defendant had conspired to make a false charge against another.
Held: If the object of the conspiracy is extortion then the truth or falsity of the charge is immaterial. It was permissible for a . .
Cited – Regina v Widdowson CACD 1986
The defendant made dishonest representations in a document which might, at a later stage, have led to a hire purchase agreement.
Held: Obtaining a hire purchase agreement can amount to the obtaining of services. Halai held that a mortgage . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 1 of 1980) CACD 1981
Section 17 is not to be reduced in the requirements of the offence. Knowledge of the purpose of a document is not an element required to be proved. . .
Cited by:
Followed – Regina v Adebayo CACD 7-Jul-1997
The defendant had been employed in the probate registry, and sought by deception to conspire with others to use the information he obtained to obtain money from estates. He appealed, saying that the court should not have convicted him of obtaining . .
Cited – Regina v Cooke CACD 2-Dec-1996
The defendant had been convicted upon his admission, and sentenced a later decision in another case indicated that the basis of his plea might be wrong. He sought permission to apply for leave to appeal out of time.
Held: Leave to appeal was . .
Cited – Regina v Bottomley CACD 31-Jul-2003
The defendant appealed his conviction for murder. An application had been granted for a special measures direction to allow a witness to give evidence by live video link. However the necessary order permitting this was not in effect.
Held: The . .
Cited – Regina v Naviede CACD 21-Mar-1997
The defendant appealed from his conviction for dishonesty. He said that he should have allowed hi to represent himself as to certain aspect of his case, but to have legal representation for others.
Held: The judge was right to reject such a . .
Cited – Regina v Hilton CACD 7-Mar-1997
The defendant on a theft charge was a signatory on an account and caused money to be transferred to other accounts.
Held: The instructions to the bank had caused the transfers, and the defendant had therefore misappropriated the credit balance . .
Cited – Regina v Dawson, Dawson CACD 14-Jul-1997
The defendants were convicted of a mortgage fraud. They appealed saying they had not been dishonest. They had signed forms, but they then had been completed by others, and that it had been those further replies which were dishonest. The original . .
Applied – Regina v Stone CACD 14-Feb-2001
The defendant appealed against his conviction in 1998 of murder based on a confession said to have been made to a fellow prisoner on remand. A witness supporting that confession said after the trial that he had lied under police pressure. The appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 08 October 2022; Ref: scu.148875