Reasons for allowance of appeal – use of hearsay evidence

Lord Justice Stanley Burnton
[2011] EWCA Crim 2341, (2011) 175 JP 462
Bailii
England and Wales

Crime

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.447504

References: [2011] EWCA Crim 1626
Links: Bailii
Jurisdiction: England and Wales

Last Update: 16 November 2020; Ref: scu.441547

Minor Error in Juror Directions – Conviction safe
The defendant appealed his conviction of murder. He was said to have instructed two others to carry it out. He now said that evidence had wrongly been admitted of bad character.
Held: It would have been better to direct the jury as to applying the ‘so you are sure’ to the questioned evidence but overall the direction corrected that omission and the error was insufficient to vitiate the conviction.
References: [2020] EWCA Crim 1473, [2020] WLR(D) 608
Links: Bailii, WLRD
Judges: Davis LJ, Jeremy Baker, Holgate JJ
Statutes: Criminal Justice Act 2003 101
Jurisdiction: England and Wales

Last Update: 16 November 2020; Ref: scu.655681

The claimant sought compensation for his imprisonment after the overturning of his conviction, on the basis that evidence had emerged which undermined the conviction.
Held: Such a claim could not succeed where the reason for the non-use of the evidence was the incompetence or otherwise of the defence lawyers. Existing law had not decided just what constituted new evidence as regards who any evidence was unknown to. A failure by a defence team to recognise the significance of a particular item of evidence was not an example to fall with Lord Bingham’s categories in Mullen of something going seriously wrong, unless that failure was so bad as to be egregious.
References: [2009] EWCA Civ 1291, Times 07-Dec-2009, [2010] QB 460, [2010] 3 WLR 63, [2010] 1 Cr App R 25
Links: Bailii
Judges: Lord Justice Waller, Lord Justice Dyson and Lord Justice Lloyd
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
This case cites:

• Appeal from – Regina (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice Admn ([2009] EWHC 156 (Admin))
  . .
• See Also – Regina v Adams CACD (Bailii, [2007] EWCA Crim 1, [2007] 1 Cr App R 34)
  The defendant appealed against his conviction in 1993 for murder. . .
• Cited – Mullen, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL (House of Lords, [2004] UKHL 18, Bailii, Times 03-May-04, [2005] 1 AC 1, [2004] 3 All ER 65, [2004] 2 WLR 1140, 16 BHRC 469, [2004] UKHRR 745)
  The claimant had been imprisoned, but his conviction was later overturned. He had been a victim of a gross abuse of executive power. The British authorities had acted in breach of international law and had been guilty of ‘a blatant and extremely . .

(This list may be incomplete)
This case is cited by:

• Appeal From – Adams, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice SC (Bailii, [2011] UKSC 18, Bailii Summary, SC Summary, SC, UKSC 2010/0012, [2011] 3 All ER 261, [2011] NI 42, [2011] 2 WLR 1180)
  The three claimants had each been convicted of murders and served time. Their convictions had been reversed eventually, and they now appealed against the refusal of compensation for imprisonment, saying that there had been a miscarriage of justice. . .

(This list may be incomplete)

Last Update: 12 July 2020; scu-Ref: scu.381578