The defendant complained that the long delay in his prosecution for alleged sexual assaults was an abuse.
Held: Complaints about delays should normally be dealt with by the court of trial having heard the evidence. It was in the nature of allegations of sexual assault by children, that the courage to complain might only come with adulthood, and so delay was natural. A complaint of abuse of process will only succeed in exceptional cases. The judge should assess after hearing evidence whether it was approriate to go ahead, and should carefully scrutinise the evidence to make sure it could safely be left to a jury. Here, and referring also to some inconsistency in the verdicts, the conviction was unsafe.
Judges:
Lord Woolf LCJ, Aikens, Fulford JJ
Citations:
Times 28-May-2004
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v B CACD 2003
The court allowed an appeal against conviction on charges of sex abuse where the underlying offences had taken place many years before. ‘In this case it has to be recognised that because of the delay that occurred, in our judgment the appellant was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.197897