Where the judge decided that no inference could be drawn from the defendant’s silence, because of the absence of facts which could have been mentioned, he had a duty positively to warn the jury not arbitrarily to draw adverse inferences from the silence. He had been wrong to leave it open to the jury to draw such conclusions if they so chose. The defendant had given an initial denial, but nothing further.
No inference should be drawn from silence where, in a relatively straightforward case, the suspect at the station handed in a statement, but refused to answer questions. This might not be applicable where the case became more complicated, and not all the questions could be anticipated.
Judges:
Hutchison LJ, Scott Baker J
Citations:
Gazette 20-Oct-1999, Times 07-Aug-1998, Gazette 16-Sep-1998, [1998] 3 All ER 805, [1999] Crim LR 316, [1998] EWCA Crim 2364, [1999] 1 Crim App R 377, [1999] 1 WLR 1500
Links:
Statutes:
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 34
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Gilbert CACD 1977
The defendant on a charge of murder had claimed at trial that he had acted in self-defence. He had not said anything of this sort in his police statement under caution. The trial judge had invited the jury, in the exercise of their common sense, to . .
Cited – Regina v Alladice CACD 1988
The defendant had been denied access to a solicitor at interview. He appealed against his conviction, saying his confession should not have been admitted, having been obtained by duress.
Held: Although there had been breaches of the Act and of . .
Cited – Regina v Argent CACD 16-Dec-1996
The defendant complained that, after acting on his solicitor’s advice to not answer questions when interviewed by the police, the court had allowed the jury to draw inferences from his failure. The police had failed to make such full disclosure of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v McCartney, Hamlett, Beddow and Hulme CACD 16-May-2003
The defendants appealed convictions and sentences for a long series of armed robberies. The evidence centred on the admissions of a participant, whose statement, the defendants alleged was self serving and unreliable, and in one case served a . .
Cited – Brizzalari v Regina CACD 19-Feb-2004
Limits to Requests for Adverse Inferences
In closing, prosecuting counsel had suggested that during the trial two matters had been mentioned by the defence which had not been mentioned earlier, and that the jury should feel free to draw proper inferences under the 1984 Act from that . .
Cited – Petkar and Farquar, Regina v CACD 16-Oct-2003
The defendants appealed their convictions and sentence for theft. Whilst employed by a bank thay had arranged for transfers to their own account. Each blamed the other. They appealed on the basis that the direction on their silence at interview was . .
Cited – Najib v Regina CACD 12-Feb-2013
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder saying that the court had given inadequate directions as to his ‘no comment’ interview, the need to treat the evidence of a co-accused with caution, and the need for a bad character direction. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Evidence
Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.155238
