‘1. The Court of Appeal should concentrate on the single and simple question ‘does it think that the verdict is unsafe’.
2. This exercise does not involve trying the case again. Rather it requires the court, where conviction has followed trial and no fresh evidence has been introduced on the appeal, to examine the evidence given at trial and to gauge the safety of the verdict against that background.
3. The court should eschew speculation as to what may have influenced the jury to its verdict.
4. The Court of Appeal must be persuaded that the verdict is unsafe but if, having considered the evidence, the court has a significant sense of unease about the correctness of the verdict based on a reasoned analysis of the evidence, it should allow the appeal.’
Judges:
Kerr LCJ
Citations:
[2004] NICA 34
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Pendleton HL 13-Dec-2001
The defendant had appealed his conviction for murder to the Court of Appeal. The 1968 Act required the court to consider whether the conviction was unsafe. New evidence was before the Court of Appeal, but they had rejected the appeal.
Held: . .
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Livingstone CANI 25-Jun-2013
The defendant appealed against his conviction for murder, saying that police officers had fabricated a confession, and had severely mistreated another detainee to concoct further evidence.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Had the material . .
Cited – Dorrian, Rex v CANI 13-Sep-2022
Appeal against conviction for a single count of manslaughter . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 17 November 2022; Ref: scu.216023