The defendant submitted a defence statement under the statutory rules, but refused to sign it. The defence would have incriminated him in respect of other matters. The local court had issued a practice direction requiring defence statements to be signed by the defendant, and the Court of Appeal had also recommended it. The court refused to accept it without his signature, and he challenged that refusal.
Held: the jurisdiction with regard to defence statements was entirely statutory, and the statute made no allowance for compulsion. Nevertheless, an unsigned defence statement might be tested by the court to establish that it did represent the defendant’s case, and if extra costs were incurred, he or anyone advising him not to sign it, might expect to be asked to pay those costs.
Lord Justice Kennedy and Mrs Justice Rafferty
Gazette 27-Jun-2002, [2002] EWHC 922 (Admin), [2002] 1 WLR 2747
Bailii, Bailii
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 5
England and Wales
Updated: 23 October 2021; Ref: scu.172256
