It came to light that at the trial of the appellant that one juror was a current employee of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in general administrative duties, another was a serving police officer in an administrative and non-operational role, and a third was a former police officer who had retired in 2003. None of them had had any involvement in the case.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The issue was whether the appellant had been tried by an impartial and independent tribunal. Lord Judge said: ‘it would be inconsistent with the current legislative arrangements, for every employee of the CPS to be or to be regarded as excused or disqualified from service on a jury in a trial prosecuted by the CPS. In principle the position of an individual employee of the CPS is fact- and employment- specific, rather than subject to an all-embracing embargo.
We therefore address the facts which we have already summarised. The employee of the CPS who served on the jury cannot be described as a temporary employee of the CPS. She had worked full-time for the CPS for no less than nine years . . In our judgment her service was long enough and of sufficient importance to lead to the conclusion that she fell within the ambit of the prohibition identified by Lord Bingham and Baroness Hale in accordance with the principle which we have described. We also note that she was sitting in contravention of the guidance now issued by the CPS.’
Judges:
Lord Judge CJ
Citations:
[2011] EWCA Crim 65
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Explained – Regina v Abdroikof, Regina v Green; Regina v Williamson HL 17-Oct-2007
The House was asked whether a jury in criminal trials containing variously a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor, or a police officer would have the appearance of bias. In Abdroikof, the presence of the police officer on the jury was discovered only . .
Cited by:
Cited – Kaur, Regina (on The Application of) v Institute of Legal Executives Appeal Tribunal and Another CA 19-Oct-2011
The claimant appealed against rejection of judicial review of a finding that she had effectively cheated at a professional examination for the Institute. She compained that the presence of a director and the council’s vice-president of the Institute . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Natural Justice, Criminal Practice
Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.446113