Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) judgments, 2003

A defendant must ordinarily advance the whole available defence at trial. Fresh evidence may be received on appeal only where it may provide a basis for…

Where provocation is left to a jury under Homicide Act 1957, the judge should identify, unless obvious, the evidence capable of supporting loss of…

A count of statutory conspiracy is not duplicitous merely because the agreed course of conduct may involve one of two alternative substantive offences. The…

For section 1 of the Theft Act 1978, banking and credit-card facilities may be services. This includes dishonestly obtaining an account or card and dishonestly…

In a multi-defendant criminal trial, the jury must consider each defendant and count separately. Where the evidence and the defences make the alleged roles…

Under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, the Court of Appeal has a broad discretion to receive fresh evidence. The statutory considerations must be…

Evidence available but unused at trial may be received on an appeal under section 23(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 where that is necessary or expedient in…

For theft under section 3(1) of the Theft Act 1968, a defendant does not appropriate a victim’s credit balance merely by deceiving the victim into initiating a…

An appeal under section 35(1) of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 lies only from a ruling made within the proper ambit of a preparatory…

Under section 3 of the Homicide Act 1957, the jury must decide whether a loss of self-control was sufficiently excusable to reduce murder to manslaughter. It…

The structure of a summing up is a matter for the trial judge’s case-specific judgment. A conventional form is not mandatory. The appellate question is whether…

For liability through joint enterprise, knowledge that others intend to commit an offence, coupled with presence or association, is insufficient. The defendant…

Fresh evidence renders a conviction unsafe only if it might reasonably have affected the jury’s decision. Expert ear-print comparison evidence was not…

Where the defence to possessing a bladed article in a public place depends on good reason or religious reasons, the trial judge must first decide whether the…

For an offence under section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, a person who actively participates in the mechanics of an injection may be a…

For a historic murder conviction, the appellate court applies the substantive law in force at trial. Later statutory changes to homicide law, including the…

For a section 20 offence consisting of a single, unprovoked punch which unintentionally causes serious injury, sentence must reflect the gravity of the…

For confiscation proceedings under Criminal Justice Act 1988, the statutory six-month period requires a completed determination, not merely the substantive…

In a two-defendant conspiracy case, different verdicts are permissible only where evidence admissible against one defendant alone is, or could be, critical to…

A breach of the requirement in Code D of the Code of Practice to hold an identification parade does not automatically make video-identification evidence…

The common-law offence of public nuisance remains an offence known to law. It covers an unlawful act or breach of legal duty which materially endangers or…

A conviction founded substantially on a complainant’s identification evidence may be unsafe where significant post-trial allegations materially alter the…

When fresh material is relied upon to challenge a conviction, the appellate court should ask whether the material, if available at trial, might reasonably have…

When post-trial material undermines evidence used at trial, the appellate court must decide whether the conviction is unsafe. In a difficult case, it should…

Where a failure-to-surrender offence is dealt with summarily and is not committed to the Crown Court because the magistrates’ sentencing powers for that…

A conviction is unsafe where the prosecution case depended substantially on a supergrass and police officers who were subsequently discredited, and the Crown…

A refusal to begin confiscation proceedings because of an erroneous view that the Crown Court lacks jurisdiction amounts to an order making no order. It is…

A late decision to permit mutual support between complainants does not by itself make convictions unsafe. The appellate court must assess whether the issue of…

For the statutory defence of lawful excuse in criminal damage, the defendant’s asserted purpose must objectively engage the protection of property, a property…

A Drug Treatment and Testing Order requires more than statutory eligibility. The court must make a non-exhaustive public-interest assessment, including the…

A conviction arising from an investigation involving officers subsequently implicated in serious misconduct is not automatically unsafe. The court must examine…

Under section 80(2)(b) of the Powers of Criminal Courts Sentencing Act 2000, a court may impose consecutive longer-than-commensurate sentences for separate…

Under section 3 of the Homicide Act, a judge must leave provocation to the jury only where the evidence could reasonably support a finding that specific…

Fitness to plead is a functional question. An accused is unfit where a disability prevents them from performing an essential practical capacity for trial…

A witness’s previous consistent statement is generally inadmissible to corroborate that witness, even where cross-examination has exposed an earlier…

In large-scale drug-importation cases, sentencing guidelines provide important reference points. A broad tariff approach is appropriate unless exceptional…

An appellate court may refuse to admit oral evidence which merely repeats written statements already admitted at trial, particularly where the witness’s…

Under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 76, the admissibility of a confession turns on its reliability in the circumstances in which it was…

Guidance on sentencing practice, including the appropriate length of an extended licence period, does not ordinarily have retrospective effect. It differs from…

Where an offender possesses or uses a firearm or imitation firearm while committing another offence, a consecutive sentence for the firearms offence should…

For false accounting under the Theft Act 1968, the central issue is ordinarily whether the defendant acted dishonestly. The required mental state is composite.…

Under Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 71, a confiscation order requires evidence that the particular offender obtained property, or derived a pecuniary…

For confiscation purposes, the statutory concept of benefit is not confined to the proceeds of a completed sale. Property obtained in connection with an…

Under Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 34, an adverse inference may arise only from an accused’s failure to mention an identified fact later…

A valid application for hospital admission under section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983 authorises the applicant, or a person authorised by the applicant, to…

On an Attorney General’s reference under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a sentence may be increased where it substantially understates the…

For a serious, unprovoked wounding by biting off part of the victim’s ear, sentence must reflect the violence used, the injury, prior violent offending and…

Under Crime Sentences Act 1997, section 2, the mandatory life-sentence regime proceeds on the assumption that a person convicted of two serious offences…

A defence statement prepared months after interview and after disclosure is ordinarily an inadmissible previous consistent statement. It does not prevent an…

On a reference concerning an historic conviction, safety is assessed by contemporary standards of fairness under the Criminal Appeal Act 1968. A conviction is…

When sentencing historic sexual offences, the court should begin with the sentence that would have been appropriate if the offences had been reported when…

A sentencing court should not reduce an otherwise proper custodial term to reflect possible ineligibility for early release under a home detention curfew…

In a joint-enterprise murder trial, a summing-up is sufficient where, read as a whole, it fairly directs the jury on joint enterprise, withdrawal and the…

For Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 139, whether a place is public depends on whether the public have or are permitted access to it. A private front garden…

A Drug Treatment and Testing Order (DTTO) must receive proper consideration where drug addiction has materially contributed to acquisitive offending. It should…

A late amendment to an indictment is permissible where it does not alter the prosecution case as opened, the evidence required, or the jury’s task, and where…

A public interest immunity hearing may ordinarily proceed without the defendant or representatives being present. Article 6 does not confer an absolute right…

Similar-fact evidence may be used mutually to support separate counts where the jury are sure that the similarities show that the offences were committed by…

A jury considering an adverse inference under section 34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 must be directed that an inference is available only…

Article 6 requires an assessment of the fairness of the proceedings as a whole. It does not prescribe a distinct code governing every police approach to a…

Fresh psychiatric evidence obtained after a full trial will not ordinarily be received merely because it offers a more developed diagnosis. Under Criminal…

A sentence for aggravated burglary must reflect the full gravity of a planned, joint attack in the victim’s home. Material features include violence…

A conviction is unsafe where later-discovered information materially undermines the credibility of prosecution officers whose evidence was central to the case…

Under section 2 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, the Court of Appeal must itself assess whether a conviction is safe. It must not determine guilt as the…

Revenue officers investigating suspected serious tax fraud are persons charged with investigating offences for the purposes of Police and Criminal Evidence Act…

A confiscation determination may be postponed under section 72A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 only by a judicial decision made before sentence. No…

Representation of co-defendants by the same solicitors or counsel, despite an actual or potential conflict of interest, does not by itself make a conviction…

A strict-liability pollution offence under Water Resources Act 1991 remains a criminal offence of real gravity. Absence of mens rea may reduce culpability, but…

An adverse inference under Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 34, depends on whether the actual defendant could reasonably have been expected…

A criminal trial remains fair where restrictions on disclosure and cross-examination are necessary, proportionate and no greater than the circumstances…

Where fresh DNA evidence undermines a central evidential basis for a conviction, the appellate court must assess whether any alternative explanation essential…

An extended licence ordered under Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, s 86 is a preventive measure. It concerns the execution of a custodial…

An out-of-court statement tendered solely to prove that it was made, rather than the truth of its contents, is not hearsay. Its admission still depends upon…

When defence witnesses cannot attend a criminal trial, the decisive question is whether the trial can nevertheless be fair. The trial judge should assess that…

For section 2A(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, a vehicle’s current state denotes a state other than its original or manufactured design. A dangerous-condition…

A touching which is merely incidental to removing or attempting to remove footwear is not, without more, an indecent assault. However, deliberate stroking of a…

Evidence of a defendant’s knowledge of an earlier seizure of cigarettes may be relevant to whether he was knowingly concerned in a later fraudulent evasion of…

Property abandoned by its original owner may nevertheless be property belonging to another for theft if another person has possession or control of it, or a…

Sentencing for fraudulent evasion of excise duty under Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, section 170, must reflect the duty evaded, the sophistication of…

A conviction is not unsafe merely because trial counsel did not seek to exclude admissions said to have been obtained following non-compliance with police…

Save for administrative communications unconnected with the trial, a judge should ordinarily state in open court the nature and content of a jury…

A hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983 requires sufficiently current medical evidence to enable the sentencing court to assess the…

Fresh evidence will render a conviction unsafe where it might reasonably have affected the trial jury’s decision. Material showing that a central prosecution…

An appellant seeking to renew an application refused by a single judge must comply with Criminal Appeal Rules 1968, rule 12. The notice must be served on the…

Under section 139(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the judge must first decide whether the explanation advanced is capable in law of amounting to a good…

An accused who seeks to establish good character may be questioned about a foreign judicial finding of guilt which remains subject to appeal, even where…

A prosecutor who holds a co-defendant’s defence statement must consider it under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996. The relevant material must…

A confiscation determination postponed beyond six months from conviction requires exceptional circumstances, whether the power relied on is statutory or…

Whether possession of a bladed article crosses the custody threshold depends on all the circumstances. The absence of aggressive or violent use, and the…

Where fresh expert evidence, unavailable to the jury, materially undermines a central factual premise of the prosecution case, the appellate court must assess…

In a referred second criminal appeal, the court will normally revisit a ground previously determined only where there is new argument or evidence, or…

Where an Attorney General’s reference reveals that a sentence is unduly lenient, the Court of Appeal may substitute a substantially longer sentence where the…

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, section 17 does not prevent either party from adducing evidence, asking questions or making assertions to…

Where a conviction depends essentially on a disputed confession, credible fresh expert evidence showing an accused’s previously unrecognised intellectual…

Where one co-defendant gives evidence adverse to another, the trial judge should normally warn the jury to examine that evidence with care because the witness…

A conviction is unsafe where fresh material, unavailable to the defence, could reasonably have affected the jury’s assessment of a central prison-informer…

For an offence under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, having a bladed article with a person requires knowing possession. Where an article has been…

An appeal against conviction following a guilty plea will be entertained only rarely, but the available circumstances are not confined to those identified in…

Where subsequent inquiries cast substantial doubt on the integrity of police officers who supplied intelligence leading to a search, a conviction is unsafe if…

A technical defect in a confiscation notice under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 does not deprive the Crown Court of jurisdiction where the notice has achieved…

Where a prosecution witness’s undisclosed convictions are later revealed, the Court of Appeal must decide whether the conviction is unsafe. The assessment…

Following a finding that an accused is unfit to plead and did the acts charged, the court must make a disposal authorised by section 5 of the Criminal…

The safety of a conviction is not undermined by late disclosure unless timely disclosure might materially have affected the jury’s assessment of the relevant…

In manslaughter arising from a deliberate and unprovoked attack on an innocent victim, the limited sentencing approach appropriate to a minor single-blow case…

A statement which satisfies the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule is admissible even though its maker is available to give evidence. There is no general…

A court may correct a memorandum of conviction which wrongly identifies the statutory power for committal for sentence, where the correction gives effect to…

A conviction is unsafe where later information materially undermines the reliability of the principal prosecution witnesses and the remaining untainted…

The prosecution has a discretion whether to call or tender a witness, but it must be exercised to secure a fair trial. It should normally call witnesses with…

A breach of a procedural requirement for postponing confiscation proceedings does not automatically invalidate a later order. Its effect depends on…

In an appeal alleging incompetent representation, professional failures do not themselves make a conviction unsafe. The appellant must identify resulting…

Where proof that another person committed an offence is a legal precondition to a secondary party’s liability, a jury in a joint trial may use its finding of…

Where admissible fresh expert evidence presents a respectable alternative explanation for death and might reasonably have affected the trial jury’s verdict…

A conviction is unsafe where newly available medical evidence fundamentally contradicts the evidential basis on which the prosecution put the case and shows…

The common law offence of perverting the course of justice requires an act, or a course of conduct, which tends to pervert justice and is intended to do so.…

For causing death by dangerous driving, culpability is the dominant sentencing consideration, although death and its consequences remain relevant. Sentencers…

In deciding whether a trial judge’s interventions have made a conviction unsafe, the court must assess the quality as well as the number of interventions and…

Earlier incidents may be admitted as background evidence to explain an accused’s motive, even though they involve uncharged wrongdoing, where they make the…

Expert psychological evidence casting serious doubt on the reliability of a confession may render a conviction unsafe where it is capable of belief and would…

An appeal court must identify a statutory basis for jurisdiction. An appeal against sentence following a magistrates’ court committal to the Crown Court is…

On an appeal based on fresh evidence, the Court of Appeal must determine the safety of the jury’s conviction and must not become the primary fact-finder. Where…

Where later disclosure materially undermines an identification expert’s reliability, an appellate court must ask whether the jury would inevitably have…

For the objective element of provocation under Homicide Act 1957, section 3, the jury must consider all the circumstances. Those matters may include the…

Fresh psychiatric evidence may be admitted under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 where its admission is necessary or expedient in the interests of…

A statutory defence requiring an accused to prove a good reason for carrying a bladed article in public imposes a persuasive burden. It makes an inroad into…

An offence under section 11(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 is complete when a person belongs, or professes to belong, to a proscribed organisation. Active…

A trial judge must balance the interests of the defendant, prosecution, witnesses, jury and the public when managing a criminal trial. An adjournment should be…

Section 74(3) of PACE is a rule of proof. It does not enlarge the circumstances in which evidence that an accused committed an earlier offence is admissible.…

Misconduct in public office by a police officer is serious. Public confidence in police officers, who exercise extensive powers and responsibilities…

An identification case should not be withdrawn from the jury merely because the evidence has real weaknesses. Where the trial judge has considered those…

A person who actively participates in the mechanics of another person’s drug injection is a principal, rather than merely a secondary party. Applying and…

On an appeal relying on fresh evidence, the question under section 23(2) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 is whether the conviction is safe, not whether the…

A defendant benefits under section 71(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 when he obtains property as a result of, or in connection with, an offence. The…

Where a purported alternative offence was put to the jury in a written form containing the particulars of a separate count, the resulting verdict may be…

Procedural irregularities in a police investigation, including breaches of recording requirements, do not by themselves make a trial unfair or require…

Under the unamended Criminal Justice Act 1988, the discretion to make a confiscation order is general. Its primary purpose is to strip offenders of criminal…

A late-discovered exhibit does not ordinarily make a conviction unsafe where there was no deliberate suppression, it was disclosed promptly when noticed, and…

Evidence of a complainant’s sexual behaviour whose main purpose is to impeach credibility cannot be treated as relating to a relevant issue under section 41(3)…

A secondary party may be guilty of murder where he joins a plan to attack the victim with weapons, intends that death or at least grievous bodily harm should…

A statement intended to be exculpatory may nevertheless be a confession for Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 purposes when, at the time it is tendered, it…

Under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, credible and admissible fresh evidence need not be received where its critical factual premise lacks…

In sentencing a company for an offence under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the court must assess that company’s own culpability and the extent of its…

Sentences for a drugs-and-firearms gang must reflect the grave additional risk created by loaded weapons carried and used to protect and enforce the criminal…

In a joint criminal trial, a defendant may adduce evidence of a co-accused’s antecedent conduct to disprove the defendant’s own guilt if it is strictly…

A conviction must be quashed where reliable subsequent information about corruption by police officers materially involved in the search, arrest and alleged…

For an accused found unfit to plead, the inquiry under section 4A of the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 may extend to secondary participation in a…

Severance of counts does not itself make relevant evidence inadmissible. An appeal based on non-disclosure and a proposed severance must show that the assumed…

Article 6 does not require a racially mixed jury merely because a black defendant is tried by an all-white jury. The decisive question is whether a fair-minded…

An order extending a determinate prisoner’s licence, supervision and recall period to the end of the whole sentence is punitive for the purposes of Article 7…

For confiscation proceedings, the applicable statutory regime depends on when the offending began. Where the pre-amendment Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies…

A discretionary life sentence requires a very serious current offence and good grounds for believing that the offender will remain a serious danger to the…

Similar-fact evidence is inadmissible if it establishes only a defendant’s propensity. It may be admitted where identifiable common features make independently…

Under section 3 of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, a Crown Court must make the judicial decision to postpone a confiscation determination before passing…

Under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, the Court of Appeal must consider the statutory factors when asked to receive fresh evidence, but they are…

Fresh evidence on a criminal appeal must be assessed under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968. The court must consider, in particular, its credibility…

A criminal prosecution for historic sexual offending is not barred merely by lapse of time. A stay for abuse of process is exceptional. The defendant must…

Where an offender is committed to the Crown Court for sentence for an either-way offence under section 3 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act…

An offender convicted of involuntary manslaughter may receive credit in sentence for a timely pre-trial offer to plead guilty to that offence, even where the…

A defendant is entitled to adduce evidence relevant to the defence, even where it prejudices a co-defendant. Section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act…

In a sexual-offence trial, the rule against oath-helping does not invariably exclude limited prosecution evidence about a complainant’s background or…

Under section 139(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a defendant must prove a specific good reason or lawful authority for having a prohibited bladed article…

Where fresh evidence shows that another person committed similar sexual offences against the same child complainants during an overlapping period, it may…

Sentencing for riot must reflect both the exceptional gravity of the disorder and each offender’s individual part in it. Relevant matters include the scale…

In a sexual-offence trial, questioning a complainant about other complaints of sexual abuse requires leave under section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal…

Where causation is disputed in a murder trial, it ordinarily remains a question for the jury, even where the evidence is substantially expert medical evidence.…

Where fresh psychiatric evidence shows that, at the time of a killing, an offender suffered an abnormality of mind substantially impairing mental…

On a renewed criminal appeal, the question is whether the conviction remains safe in light of subsequent developments. The fact that an informer or associated…

Sentencing for sexual offences requires assessment of the harm to the victim, the offender’s culpability and the risk posed to society. Those considerations…

Under section 34 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the question is whether, in all the circumstances, the accused could reasonably have been…

The Court of Appeal certified that the stated question concerning the interaction between offences under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 involved a point of law…

A custodial sentence was justified for deliberate and dangerously disruptive use of an aircraft at an aerodrome. However, sentence must give sufficient weight…