The appellant had pleaded guilty to count 3, unlawful wounding, contrary to section 20 of the 1861 Act. The trial went ahead on counts 1 and 2, attempted murder and wounding with intent; all three counts in the alternative. After a majority direction the jury, asked to deliver its verdict, was unable to agree on attempted murder, count 1 and was asked if it had agreed in relation to count 2, S18. It returned an unanimous guilty verdict. It confirmed that more time would assist in relation to count 1, and in due course returned an unanimous guilty verdict on it. The appellant submitted that the procedural error in taking the verdict on count 2 before reaching finality in relation to count 1 rendered the conviction on count 1 unsafe.
Held: The court, whilst not agreeing that the conviction on count 1 was unsafe found there had been a procedural error: ‘Where there are two charges in the alternative on the indictment arising from the same facts, and with one more serious than the other, the judge should not take a verdict on the less serious count until finality has been reached on the more serious charge. Such finality may take the form of a not guilty verdict, or a decision to discharge the jury on that count because there is no realistic prospect of agreement on a verdict. If this course is not followed, then there is a serious risk of the very situation arising which arose here, with charges in the alternative leading to a multiplicity of convictions. That as this court pointed out in the case of R v Harris [1969] 1 WLR 745 cannot be right. It is not right.’
Citations:
[2008] EWCA Crim 1162, [2008] Crim LR 968
Statutes:
Offences Against the Person Act 1861 20
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Pollett and Others v Regina CACD 26-Mar-2013
Parties had been convicted of various offences associated with the conduct of a large Ponzi investment fraud scheme, and now appealed against sentence and or conviction.
Held: In P’s case, the charges had been laid as alternatives, and having . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 23 May 2022; Ref: scu.510155