Solomon & Ors, R v

A circumstantial prosecution case may properly be left to a jury where cell-site material, associations, scientific evidence and post-offence conduct form a cumulative evidential case. The limits of GPRS timing and location evidence ordinarily affect weight, not admissibility or sufficiency.

A judge’s ill-advised remarks do not require recusal or discharge of a jury unless they create a real appearance of bias. A joint trial remains appropriate where the evidence is inextricably linked and clear directions can prevent unfair prejudice. Evidence of earlier firearm possession may be admissible under section 101(d) where it bears on custody of weapons, without amounting to propensity evidence.

Following a trial at the Central Criminal Court before Judge Cooke QC, Christopher Gabriel and Nathan Deacon were convicted of murder. Nathaniel Solomon was convicted of perverting the course of public justice by participating in the burning of the vehicle used in the killing. Al Daniels was convicted of firearms offences and received a life sentence with a 14-year minimum term.

They renewed applications for leave to appeal after refusal by the single judge. Their challenges concerned alleged judicial bias, the sufficiency of the circumstantial and cell-site evidence, DNA and gunshot-residue evidence, severance, directions to the jury, hearsay, and, for Daniels, sentence.

1. The court rejected all renewed applications concerning conviction and sentence. The convictions were safe and Daniels’s life sentence was justified.

2. The trial judge’s remarks about the racial composition of the jury would better not have been made. They were nevertheless neither racist nor reasonably capable of creating an appearance of bias to a fair-minded observer. His reconsideration of the initially ordered discharge of the jury was open to him after he concluded that the decision had been made hastily and would cause serious delay.

3. There was a proper case to leave to the jury against Gabriel, Nathan Deacon and Solomon. The evidence had to be assessed cumulatively. It included cell-site evidence, association with other defendants, DNA evidence in Nathan Deacon’s case, and post-offence cessation of telephone use. The limitations of GPRS evidence did not establish an alibi. It was open to the jury to find that a GPRS connection recorded a location at or before the stated time and to reconcile the timing evidence concerning the burning vehicle.

4. The judge was entitled to refuse severance. The drug-dealing and other evidence was inextricably linked with the prosecution case, and appropriate directions could avert unfair prejudice. Dawson’s statement to DC Palmer was inadmissible against Nathan Deacon but admissible against Dawson; that ruling did not require severance.

5. The DNA evidence was properly admitted. The court agreed that its admissibility accorded with R v Reid & Reid [2010/11 Cr. App. R. 310] and R v Dlugosz, Pickering, MDS [2013] 1 Cr. App. R. 32. The gunshot-residue evidence was also admissible under section 101(d), since it could show prior possession of a shotgun and thus bear on custody of the weapons. It was not propensity evidence within section 103.

6. Daniels’s offending was exceptionally grave possession of firearms with intent to endanger life. Applying the sentencing guidance referred to in R v Avis [1998] 1 Cr. App. R. 420, the life sentence with a 14-year minimum term was entirely justified. In each case, 28 days spent on remand were not to be deducted from the loss of liberty imposed.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) — by [2016] EWCA Crim 95, the court rejected the renewed applications after the single judge had refused leave.
• Central Criminal Court — following a jury trial before Judge Cooke QC, Gabriel and Nathan Deacon were convicted of murder, Solomon of perverting the course of public justice, and Daniels of firearms offences. Sentences were imposed in May and June 2013.