References: Unreported, 27 June 2002
Coram: Judge Wadsworth QC
(Southwark Crown Court) The case was a prosecution for serious fraud. In civil proceedings, despite evidence to suggest a powerful case for dishonesty, a High Court judge had concluded that the claimant had failed to establish that the defendant, Baxendale-Walker, was acting dishonestly, or intentionally ‘driving what he knew to be a dishonest transaction’.
Held: There was a concern about the effect of conflicting decisions of the High Court and a crminal court. The prosecution should be stayed on the grounds that it was ‘against the public interest that the criminal case should proceed . . in that the necessary effect of such a proceeding would be to re-litigate the issue with a view to achieving a result on the facts inconsistent with the findings of fact already made in a final judgment of the High Court’.
This case cites:
- Applied – Smith -v- Linskills CA ([1996] 1 WLR 763)
The claimant, a convicted burglar took proceedings against his former solicitors. He alleged that the negligence of the solicitor caused his wrongful conviction.
Held: The case was dismissed. The claimant was seeking to re-litigate issues . .
This case is cited by:
- Cited – Levey, Regina -v- CACD (Bailii, [2006] EWCA Crim 1902, Times 24-Aug-06, [2006] 1 WLR 3092)
The defendant appealed his conviction of manslaughter of his baby son. He said that a family court had previously investigated the same allegations and had explicitly found itself unable to say which of himself and the mother were responsible for . .
