Hutchings v R.

Police corruption affecting some prosecution witnesses does not automatically taint the evidence of other officers. The safety of a conviction must be assessed by close and particular reference to the evidence in the individual case.

The court must consider whether the remaining officers’ evidence has an identified basis for doubt, including its contemporaneous recording and independent corroboration. A conviction may remain safe after the evidence of discredited officers is excised where the remaining reliable evidence sufficiently proves the case.

The appellant was convicted at Southwark Crown Court in 1992 of conspiracy to rob post office vans and was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the conviction after corruption by certain Flying Squad officers at Rigg Approach came to light.

Two officers who gave evidence belonged to the discredited group. Other witnesses belonged either to a group aware of the corrupt practice but not shown to have participated in it, or to an unblemished group. The central issue was whether the evidence of the wider group was tainted and, if the discredited evidence were removed, whether the conviction remained safe.

1. Appeal dismissed. The court had no doubt that the conviction was safe.

2. The evidence of the two officers in the discredited group was worthless. That did not establish that the evidence of officers in the wider group was unreliable. Following the approach in Zomparelli unreported, 23 March 2000, whether that evidence was possibly tainted required close and particular examination of the history and facts of this case.

3. There was no good reason to doubt the integrity of the wider-group officers’ evidence. Almost all disputed observations were contemporaneously logged. The evidence about the appellant’s and his co-accused’s movements was also materially supported by officers whose character was unchallenged. A later addition about an earpiece was supported by a contemporaneous observation of a walkie-talkie.

4. After excising the discredited officers’ evidence, the remaining evidence strongly established the co-accused’s involvement in the attempted robbery and conspiracy. The appellant’s early movements, meeting with a co-accused near the targeted depot, and subsequent association with both co-accused supported the conclusion that he participated in the attempted robbery. Other evidence added weight, although the identification evidence required caution because of earlier mistaken identifications.

5. The totality of the reliable remaining evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). On a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the court dismissed the appeal and held the conviction safe.
• Southwark Crown Court. On 18 December 1992, the appellant was convicted of conspiracy to rob and sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.