The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, on the basis that the jury had used a conclusion about the guilt of a jointly accused to support his own conviction.
Held: Section 74 had altered the law, and earlier cases were no longer relevant. A prior conviction would now be admissible to prove the commission of offences by others jointly accused, and so now would be a jury’s own finding of the guilt of a co-accused. It would not be sensible to withhold evidence from a jury which would prove the guilt of a co-accused.
Mantell LJ, Jack, Hedley JJ
Times 18-Apr-2003, [2003] EWCA Crim 1048, [2003] 1 WLR 1910
Bailii
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 74
England and Wales
Citing:
Dsitinguished – Regina v Hickey, Hickey, Robinson, Molloy CACD 30-Jul-1997
The case concerned the production for the benefit of the defence, of the prison records of a prosecution witness who was putting forward an account of a cell confession. The Appeal Court is not concerned with the guilt or innocence of the appellant, . .
Cited – Hollington v E Hewthorn and Co Ltd CA 1943
Decisions of an earlier tribunal were not binding or admissible in later proceedings where the earlier proceedings were before a court of criminal jurisdiction. Evidence of a prior conviction would not have been admissible in separate criminal . .
Cited – Regina v Rhodes 1959
. .
Cited – Regina v Hickey, Hickey, Robinson, Molloy CACD 30-Jul-1997
The case concerned the production for the benefit of the defence, of the prison records of a prosecution witness who was putting forward an account of a cell confession. The Appeal Court is not concerned with the guilt or innocence of the appellant, . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Regina v Hayter HL 3-Feb-2005
The House considered the principle that the confession of a defendant is inadmissible in a joint criminal case against a co-defendant. In a trial for murder, one party was accused of requesting a middleman to arrange for the murder by a third party. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 October 2021; Ref: scu.180846