Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) judgments, 2015

Under the objective limb of the R v Ghosh test, dishonesty is assessed by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people. Market practice, professional…

Possession of a firearm is ultimately a question of fact. It requires knowing custody or control, which may be shared. The ability to require removal of an…

Initial disclosure under Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, section 3 is governed by its statutory outcome, not by a prescribed method. In a case…

An appeal based on allegedly incompetent advocacy turns on the safety of the conviction, not incompetence alone. The appellant must identify errors or…

A Criminal Courts Charge is mandatory where the statutory conditions are met. The sentencing court has no discretion over its amount and must disregard the…

An anti-social behaviour order requires demonstrated necessity. Each prohibition must be rationally connected to the particular risk of further anti-social…

A minimum term imposed for life imprisonment cannot be increased to incorporate an activated suspended sentence for an offence which is not a serious specified…

For sentencing an offence of preparation of terrorist acts, the fact that the intended terrorism was to occur abroad does not reduce the offence’s gravity. The…

The false-impression gateway for bad-character evidence under section 101(1)(f) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is not engaged unless the accused’s evidence…

For organised conspiracies to burgle automatic teller machines by detonating gas explosions, sentencing must reflect the inherently dangerous use of…

Under Criminal Justice Act 2003 section 101(1)(e), a trial judge must determine both whether there is an important issue between defendants and whether the…

In criminal proceedings, a court has no power to receive evidence by telephone, even with the parties’ consent. The statutory scheme governing live-link…

A Goodyear indication concerns the maximum sentence if a guilty plea is tendered at that stage. If given, it binds the sentencing judge; the judge may reserve…

A properly joined criminal trial should be severed only where the interests of justice require it. The trial judge must balance the connection between the…

Fresh evidence founded on electronic screenshots must be capable of belief and reliable enough to afford a ground of appeal. Screenshots with no verifiable…

A failure to disclose material relevant to the credibility of a principal prosecution witness does not by itself make a conviction unsafe. The appellate…

Fresh medical evidence does not render a conviction unsafe merely because it would now make previously supportive medical evidence neutral. Its likely effect…

A conviction is unsafe where guilty verdicts on related counts cannot be rationally reconciled with acquittals on the evidence and directions given to the…

A sentencing court must calculate credit for time spent on a qualifying tagged curfew under section 240A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 by identifying…

A direction on voluntary intoxication need address its possible effect on specific intent only where intoxication is a live issue on the evidence. Directions…

There is no special rule that DNA evidence requires independent supporting evidence before it can found a conviction. Its sufficiency depends on its quality…

Where a confiscation order includes a victim’s loss as criminal benefit, a separate compensation order may create disproportionate double recovery if…

An interlocutory appeal under the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 lies only from a ruling within the statutory categories. The phrase any other…

not stated in the judgment.

Where a jury is permitted to replay a complainant’s video-recorded interview after retiring, the judge should preserve balance and perspective. The safeguards…

For the purposes of section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, a risk must be real and material, rather than trivial, fanciful or hypothetical.…

For possessing a firearm with intent to commit murder, it is sufficient that the defendant had the murderous intent while possessing the firearm within the…

An out-of-time application for leave to appeal may be refused where the proposed appeal is hopeless and the explanation for substantial delay is inadequate. A…

Before imposing a custodial sentence, a court must ordinarily obtain and consider a pre-sentence report before deciding that custody is justified and fixing…

The Criminal Practice Directions 2015 prescribe procedure for criminal courts in England and Wales. They require active case management that identifies the…

Disclosure failures do not render convictions unsafe unless, viewed against the real issues at trial, they had a material effect on their safety. Broad or…

An extended determinate sentence must comprise a single custodial term and a single extended licence period. An extension period cannot be attached to separate…

A good-character direction must, read as a whole, make clear that the jury should take the defendant’s good character into account both when assessing…

For an indictable-only offence requiring the Attorney General’s consent, proceedings are instituted when the accused is sent to the Crown Court under section…

Non-compliance with Achieving Best Evidence guidance does not itself require exclusion of a recorded interview. Under section 27(2) of the Youth Justice and…

When imposing a discretionary life sentence for a historic manslaughter, the court should fix the minimum term by reference to current sentencing standards and…

The statutory assistance regime in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 is unavailable where its express conditions are not met. At common law, the…

Fresh expert evidence should not be received where it carries no real weight, addresses matters within the jury’s ordinary assessment, and could have been…

For criminal proceedings begun after 13 April 2015, reporting restrictions for a person under 18 must be considered under section 45 of the Youth Justice and…

A finding that an offender is dangerous does not, by itself, authorise or require an extended sentence. Under Criminal Justice Act 2003, section 226A, the…

A summing up is fair if it gives the jury a coherent account of the central defence submissions and their evidential foundation. It need not reproduce every…

When sentencing an offender for sexual offences committed as a young teenager many years earlier, the court must give real weight to the offender’s age and…

Where summary-only offences under Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 39 are included in an indictment, the Crown Court may try them but may sentence only within…

For blackmail under Theft Act 1968, a direction on the defendant’s belief that a demand and the use of menaces were proper is required only where the evidence…

Where an offender is sentenced for an offence outside the racially aggravated offences, Criminal Justice Act 2003 section 145 requires racial aggravation to…

A single conspiracy may comprise individual agreements made at different times, even where participants do not know every conspirator or the full scope of the…

Legal professional privilege and the linked right to consult a lawyer privately are ordinarily inviolable. They may, however, be subject to a very narrow…

A finding that an accused is unfit to plead requires the statutory medical evidence and application of the Pritchard criteria. Mental fragility and a risk of…

A third trial after two full jury disagreements is exceptional. The court must make an informed, dispassionate and searching assessment of whether the…

A conviction based on a guilty plea should be quashed where incompetent legal advice deprived a defendant of an arguable statutory defence which had a…

Section 39(4) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 creates a transitional regime for a person who already possessed a self-contained gas cartridge air weapon…

Where a prosecution for fraud alleges a general deficiency in funds controlled under a position of trust, it need not identify every individual transaction…

For rape under Sexual Offences Act 2003, apparent compliance does not necessarily establish consent. Where a vulnerable or immature person may have been…

Fresh psychiatric evidence may justify an out-of-time appeal against sentence where it is credible, was not reasonably available at sentencing, and…

A companion may be convicted of murder on the then applicable doctrine of parasitic accessory liability where he knowingly joins an unlawful venture involving…

The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has a residual implicit jurisdiction to re-open a final criminal appeal in exceptional circumstances where this is…

In a sentence appeal concerning repeated breaches of a restraining order, a sentencing judge may infer significant psychological harm from the evidence and…

In a sentencing appeal, guideline category and seriousness must be assessed by reference to the whole course of conduct, including intended as well as actual…

In a prosecution for converting criminal property, the prosecution must prove criminal conduct, whether specific or generic, to the criminal standard. It need…

A conviction is not unsafe merely because a solicitor may have had a peripheral connection with prosecution evidence. A genuine conflict must be shown…

A potential sale of a family home is a relevant consideration when deciding whether to make a compensation order, but it is not subject to a general rule that…

A conviction following a guilty plea may exceptionally be set aside where deficient legal advice has improperly narrowed the defendant’s freedom to choose the…

A conviction is not rendered unsafe merely because a police officer involved in the investigation was later proved corrupt, even where it is assumed that the…

Under section 23 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, the court must assess whether receiving further evidence is necessary or expedient in the interests of…

Admission of a complainant’s hearsay statement in a domestic-violence trial requires a properly evidenced and diligent inquiry into why oral evidence cannot be…

Where a literal reading of a confiscation provision would produce an absurd anomaly that defeats the expressed purpose of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, it…

A tactical decision by trial counsel not to seek exclusion under section 78 of PACE 1984 does not render a conviction unsafe where the application was unlikely…

Restrictions on the cross-examination of child or vulnerable witnesses are compatible with a fair trial where they prevent unnecessary, repetitive or…

For serious maritime-safety offending, sentencing should assess both culpability and harm. A sequence of negligent decisions in undertaking and continuing an…

In sentencing for unlawful act manslaughter involving a knife, the court must apply the modern, more severe approach which gives substantial weight to the…

A witness may be unfit to give evidence under section 116(2)(b) where the foreseeable consequences of requiring attendance would seriously endanger the…

A prisoner serving a sentence commits the common-law offence of escape by intentionally going beyond the boundaries of an open or closed prison while knowing…

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, benefit, the value of benefit and the recoverable amount are distinct questions. Expenses do not reduce benefit, but may…

Under Criminal Justice Act 2003 Part 10, new evidence is compelling if it is reliable, substantial and, in the context of the outstanding issues, highly…

Perverting the course of justice will almost always require an immediate custodial sentence unless exceptional circumstances justify suspension. Sentence…

Under section 114(1)(d) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, hearsay complaints may be admitted where the evidence, assessed as a whole, gives a jury sufficient…

A defendant may not insist on appearing before a jury in a manner which would itself breach a subsisting criminal court order. Where attendance remains…

A criminal behaviour order under section 22 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 requires a conviction after the relevant provisions came…

On a sentence appeal, fresh evidence challenging the factual basis of sentence should generally be refused where the appellant could and should have advanced…

When sentencing an attempt, a court may assess the sentence appropriate for the completed offence and then make an allowance because the intended harm did not…

Where proceedings for an offence require the Attorney General’s consent under Criminal Law Act 1977, consent must be obtained before the proceedings are…

On a post-conviction disclosure application, the prosecution must disclose unknown relevant material which might assist an appellant and make further inquiries…

An accessory designed or adapted to diminish a weapon’s flash is a firearm for the purposes of Firearms Act 1968, subject to the statutory exclusion for…

In a criminal-lifestyle confiscation case, fraudulently obtained VAT input credits and repayments are a pecuniary advantage and form part of benefit under the…

On an appeal based on fresh undisclosed material, the Court of Appeal must decide for itself whether the conviction is safe. The possible effect of the…

A prior allegation of sexual offending may be used to challenge a complainant’s credibility only where there is a proper evidential basis that it was made and…

Telephone intercept evidence obtained wholly outside the United Kingdom falls outside section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Its…

Where the conditions in section 225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 are met, a life sentence is required if the offending is serious enough to justify it. The…

A trial judge is not required to use a particular direction on circumstantial evidence. The necessary directions depend on the case and evidence, provided the…

Where a prosecution for a fatal offence required the Attorney-General’s consent under section 2 of the Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996, the absence…

Fresh evidence should be received under Criminal Appeals Act 1968 where it is admissible, capable of belief and sufficiently material to afford a ground for…

Verdicts on specific and specimen counts are not inconsistent merely because the jury acquits on the specific counts. The appellate question is whether the…

An unequivocal and voluntary plea of guilty is a formal admission of the facts constituting the offence and will ordinarily make the resulting conviction safe.…

A whole life order is a penalty of last resort. It may be imposed only where the seriousness of the offending is exceptionally high and just punishment…

For a criminal lifestyle under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 section 75(2)(c), the prosecution must establish that an offence lasted at least six months and that…

A community order must operate through one or more statutory requirements. It cannot continue as an empty order after its sole requirement has expired or been…

Under section 101(1)(f) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, a defendant who gives an account apt to create a partial or misleading impression of his character…

Where a DNA profile matching the defendant is found on a movable item at a crime scene, the DNA evidence alone will not ordinarily support a conviction. Its…

Defence counsel may invite a jury to consider a reason for a defendant’s failure to give evidence only where there is an evidential foundation for that reason.…

Evidence of bad character under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is not confined to previous convictions of the same description or category as the charge. The…

A stay for abuse of process is mandatory where a fair trial is impossible. Where the alleged abuse instead concerns the integrity of the criminal justice…

In sentencing for possession of a prohibited firearm, the court should first identify the proper sentence after a contested trial by assessing the weapon…

On an appeal based on allegedly inconsistent jury outcomes, the decisive statutory question is whether the conviction is safe. Logical inconsistency is…

A defendant of absolute good character is entitled to directions on both credibility and propensity. A defendant with old, minor and irrelevant convictions may…

Full disclosure of a solicitor’s attendance notes waives legal professional privilege over the whole content of those notes. It does not waive privilege over…

Gross negligence manslaughter is assessed objectively. The question is whether a reasonably prudent person of the defendant’s age and experience would have…

Where a statutory minimum sentence applies and credit for a guilty plea is capped, the court should first determine the proper sentence for the offending after…

A summing up must give a concise and balanced account of the evidence and issues that are material to the jury’s decision. It need not rehearse all the…

When fixing sentence under the Drug Offences Definitive Guidelines, a sentence at the top of a higher category range requires aggravating features sufficient…

For misconduct in public office involving unauthorised disclosures to the media, a deliberate breach of duty is insufficient. The jury must be directed that…

An appellate court may, under section 11(3) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968, quash an unlawful sentence and substitute any sentence that the sentencing court…

A prosecution appeal against a terminating ruling may comply with the requirement for immediate notice where a complex written ruling requires reasonable time…

Time spent in custody following recall on licence does not justify reducing a later sentence unless there has been excessive delay. A sentencing court may…

Recognition evidence from CCTV may be admitted where the image is sufficiently clear to permit a witness who knows the suspect well to recognise him. Its…

In a circumstantial case, a submission of no case to answer must be assessed by asking whether a reasonable jury, properly directed, could be sure of guilt and…

not stated in the judgment.

Evidence of a pre-offence internet search may be admitted where it is strongly relevant to whether violence was contemplated or intended and its admission…

Where a child’s contemporaneous Achieving Best Evidence interview provides an adequate evidential basis for a charge, later inconsistencies or confusion in the…

Time spent on remand for a later offence which overlaps with custody following recall for breach of licence is not automatically credited against the later…

A prior forfeiture order made contrary to Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requirements does not remove the Crown Court’s jurisdiction to complete properly postponed…

For tobacco imported by sea, liability under the Tobacco Products Regulations 2001 arises only where the defendant held the goods at the excise duty point, or…

Under section 100(1)(b) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, third-party bad-character evidence is admissible only if it has substantial probative value on a…

A late disclosure identifying a potential defence witness does not by itself render a criminal trial unfair. The appellate court must assess the practical…

Whether a photograph of a child is indecent is ordinarily a question for the jury. The jury must apply an objective standard of recognised propriety, rather…

For unlawful act manslaughter, the prosecution must prove the mental element required for the underlying unlawful act. It need not prove that the defendant…

The sufficiency of indictment particulars is governed by whether they make clear the conduct alleged by the prosecutor. A count need not plead every ingredient…

For conspiracy under section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, the prosecution must prove that the defendant joined an agreement to commit the offence and…

Procedural defects in confiscation proceedings do not ordinarily invalidate a later confiscation order. The statutory scheme must be construed purposively, but…

Bad-character evidence may be admitted under section 101(1)(d) of the 2003 Act where it is capable of showing a propensity that is highly relevant to whether…

Evidence that police officers fabricated or manipulated observations in a proximate and similar investigation may be more than an attack on credibility. Where…

Proposed cross-examination of a child complainant about alleged prior false allegations or misconduct requires a sufficient evidential foundation. Ambiguous…

When sentencing violent disorder committed by a large group, the court must assess the collective effect of the disorder as well as the offender’s individual…

A State aid challenge fails where the alleged beneficiaries and comparators are not in comparable factual and legal positions. Separate regulatory regimes may…

A petrol bomb is an offensive weapon per se for the purposes of section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953. A jury need not determine that classification.…

A trial judge may refuse an adjournment and exclude prosecution evidence under section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 where late service has…

On an appeal based on fresh evidence, the central question is whether the evidence might reasonably have affected the jury’s decision to convict. Put another…

For an offence governed by the former law of indecent assault, an allegation that the defendant caused the complainant to masturbate him does not, without a…

A trial judge must control the cross-examination of a child or vulnerable witness. In a multi-handed trial, advocates may be treated as a group and prevented…

Prosecutorial lapses render a conviction unsafe only where their actual effect, considered both individually and cumulatively, deprived the defendant of a fair…

A defendant who pleads guilty only after a trial has begun should ordinarily receive the appropriate reduction for the plea. A late plea may justify a reduced…

A guilty plea is not rendered improper merely because a defendant feels pressure from a Crown proposal that may benefit a co-accused. Where the Crown makes or…

The partial defence of loss of control under sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 is self-contained. Repealed provocation authorities will…

Where excavated material was originally discarded, an intended re-use does not automatically cause it to cease being waste. Whether its status has changed is a…

A sentencing judge may sentence only for offences of which the defendant has been convicted, or which the defendant has asked to be taken into consideration. A…

For confiscation under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the court must first identify the precise conduct criminalised by the statute creating the offence. A…

A recalled offender has no entitlement to a sentence reduction merely because custody on remand for a new offence overlaps with custody on recall and therefore…

On a half-time submission in an attempted-rape case, the question is whether the prosecution evidence, taken at its highest, is capable of sustaining a…

An electronically monitored curfew imposed under a suspended sentence order is part of the overall sentence and must be suitable for the offender. Its length…

Where the prosecution makes a factual allegation a central plank of its case, the safety of the resulting conviction must be assessed on that case. An…

For the offence of threatening to destroy or damage property, the required fear is fear of a real possibility that the threat may be carried out. It does not…

An intention permanently to deprive is not established merely because property is taken or retained pending performance of a condition. Under section 6 of the…

A sentencing court must first determine the sentence warranted by the offending. Employment or service consequences may be relevant, but they must not drive…

On cogent circumstantial evidence, a sentencing judge may find that a driver was using or manipulating a mobile telephone at the time of a fatal collision.…

Where the medical conditions for a hospital order are met, a hospital order is not automatic. The sentencing court must decide the most suitable disposal by…

An inadvertent disclosure of an unproven allegation, and evidence of allegations outside the indictment, do not necessarily render a conviction unsafe. The…

Section 125(7) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 preserves sentencing powers designed to secure treatment for a mentally disordered offender. It does not…

For a money-laundering charge under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, criminal property need not be proved by identifying a particular offence or a specific class of…

An offence of facilitating a breach of immigration law under Immigration Act 1971 section 25 may be committed even though the facilitated offence is never…

An earlier acquittal is generally irrelevant at a retrial. It does not prove innocence or establish which factual issues the first jury resolved in the…

Fresh evidence said to amount to a complainant’s retraction will not render a conviction unsafe unless it creates sufficient anxiety about the conviction’s…

A co-accused’s out-of-court confession may be admitted under section 114(1)(d) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 where admission is in the interests of justice.…

In sentencing a child convicted of murder, the statutory minimum-term starting point may be substantially increased where grave aggravating features are…

Where a single incident of dangerous driving causes serious injury to several victims, sentences on separate counts should generally run concurrently. Each…

The statutory definition of an air weapon in the Firearms Act 1968 excludes, independently, weapons falling within section 5(1) and weapons declared specially…

For paragraph 5A of Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003, whether a knife was taken to the scene depends on the place to which it was carried. Moving…

A hearing under section 4A of the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 determines whether an accused who is unfit to plead did the act or omission charged.…

Section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968 covers a weapon whose deliberate design features enable it to discharge noxious gas. The provision does not require…

A finding, following unfitness to plead, that an accused did the acts charged is neither a conviction nor an acquittal. It cannot found a restraining order…

A sentencing court must calculate and direct qualifying-curfew credit under section 240 A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Failure to perform that mandatory…

Where a sentencing court must determine a defendant’s role in a conspiracy, the categorisation must rest on the evidence. A false account given after a guilty…