The defendant appealed his conviction saying that the video identification procedures used had been unfair. He was alleged to have carried out robberies at knife point of people who had just visited cash machines. The defendant had been given the opportunity to select other faces from a database 19,000 images, but only one had the particular characteristics identified to the police by the witness, namely facial hair and greying temples. The police used procedures involving both masked and unmasked comparisons for witnesses.
Held: Even the police had admitted that the actual procedure followed had been grossly unfair. The procedure had been a deliberate attempt to evade the protection of a defendant by the 1984 Act. The associated convictions were quashed.
Judges:
Laws LJ, Davis J, Griffiths-Williams QC J
Citations:
Times 03-Dec-2004
Statutes:
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Criminal Practice
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.220266
