(Jersey) Lord Dyson criticised elements of the decision in R v Grant and said: ‘Nevertheless, the Board respectfully considers that the decision in R v Grant was wrong. The statement at para 54 suggests that the deliberate invasion of a suspected person’s right to legal professional privilege is to be assimilated to the abduction and entrapment cases where the balancing exercise will generally lead to a stay of the proceedings. The Board agrees that the deliberate invasion by the police of a suspect’s right to legal professional privilege is a serious affront to the integrity of the justice system which may often lead to the conclusion that the proceedings should be stayed. But the particular circumstances of each case must be considered and carefully weighed in the balance. It was obviously right to hold on the facts in R v Grant that the gravity of the misconduct was a factor which militated in favour of a stay. But as against that, the accused was charged with a most serious crime and, crucially, the misconduct caused no prejudice to the accused. This was not even a case where the ‘but for’ factor had a part to play. The misconduct had no influence on the proceedings at all. In these circumstances, surely the trial judge was entitled to decide in the exercise of his discretion to refuse a stay and the Court of Appeal should not have held that his decision was wrong.’
Judges:
Lord Hope, Lord Rodger, Lord Brown, Lord Kerr, Lord Dyson
Citations:
[2011] UKPC 10, [2011] 3 WLR 464, [2011] 2 All ER 513, [2012] 1 AC 22, [2011] 2 Cr App R 29
Links:
Citing:
Criticised – Regina v Grant CACD 4-May-2005
The police had secretly and unlawfully recorded conversations between the defendant and his solicitor whilst he was in custody. The judge rejected a claim of abuse of process. He appealed his conviction for murder.
Held: The appeal was . .
Cited by:
Cited – Brown, Regina v CACD 29-Jul-2015
The claimant, a patient hld at Rampton Hospital faced charges of attempted murder of two nurses. His lwayers had asked for the right to see their client in private, but eth Hospital objected, insisting on the presence of two nurses at all times. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice, Legal Professions, Police
Updated: 04 September 2022; Ref: scu.431375