Coats, R. v

Fresh evidence said to support a defence of duress should not be received on appeal unless it is capable of belief and provides a proper basis for advancing a defence not raised at trial. Battered Woman’s Syndrome may be relevant to duress, including to the assessment of perceived options and evasive action. It does not itself establish that a defendant’s will was overborne.

The court must assess carefully the timing, extent and effects of abuse against reliable contemporaneous material. It must avoid stereotypes, since abused persons may give inconsistent accounts or remain with an abuser. However, contradictions cannot automatically be attributed to the syndrome, and duress requires a sufficiently cogent, immediate and effective threat with no reasonable evasive action available.

The appellant had been convicted in 2008 of importing 1.26 kilograms of cocaine and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. She had not appealed against conviction, and her earlier attempt to obtain leave to appeal against sentence had failed.

Following a reference by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, she relied on psychiatric evidence that she suffered from Battered Woman’s Syndrome arising from her relationship with Chesham Walters. She contended that the new evidence supported a defence of duress and explained why that defence had not been advanced at trial. Alternatively, she sought a reduction in sentence.

The central issues were whether the proposed evidence might establish Battered Woman’s Syndrome at the time of the offence and whether its severity could afford a possible defence of duress.

1. Conviction appeal dismissed. Applying section 23(2) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, the court declined to receive the appellant’s and Dr Mezey’s fresh evidence. The proposed factual basis for the psychiatric opinion had been undermined, the appellant’s evidence was not capable of belief, and there was no reasonable explanation for advancing duress years after trial.

2. The court accepted that Battered Woman’s Syndrome is a recognised variant of post-traumatic stress disorder and that, in a suitable case, it may be material to duress. Duress requires a threat sufficiently cogent, immediate and effective that a person of reasonable firmness, sharing the defendant’s relevant characteristics, might yield. It also requires that the defendant honestly and reasonably believed that no evasive action was available. The court applied the guidance in R v Hassan (formally R v Z) [2005] 2 AC 467.

3. Domestic abuse and Battered Woman’s Syndrome do not automatically establish duress. The court must examine the extent and timing of abuse, its impact on the defendant, and contemporaneous evidence. It should not use stereotypical expectations of how an abused person will report abuse, behave towards an abuser, or seek help. Yet inconsistencies do not necessarily result from the syndrome, and only severe symptoms could support a conclusion that free will was overborne.

4. On the evidence, the appellant may have endured an abusive childhood and some domestic violence, but there was no credible basis for finding that she had suffered severe, chronic abuse producing learned helplessness when the importation occurred. She had reasonable options, including seeking police assistance, leaving Walters, and obtaining support from family and friends. Her conduct and the contemporaneous material did not support the proposed defence.

5. Sentence challenge dismissed. The sentencing judge had applied the then applicable range of 10 to 14 years, had treated the appellant as an organiser, and had already allowed for her personal mitigation. There was no basis to reduce the 10-year sentence.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): On a Criminal Cases Review Commission reference, dismissed the appeals against conviction and sentence: [2013] EWCA Crim 1472.
• Crown Court: The appellant was convicted on 7 November 2008 of importing cocaine and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. No citation is stated in the judgment.
• Earlier sentence appeal: Her first application for leave to appeal against sentence failed at the leave stage and was not renewed.