(1)In this Chapter references to a statement or to a matter stated are to be read as follows.
(2)A statement is any representation of fact or opinion made by a person by whatever means; and it includes a representation made in a sketch, photofit or other pictorial form.
(3)A matter stated is one to which this Chapter applies if (and only if) the purpose, or one of the purposes, of the person making the statement appears to the court to have been—
(a)to cause another person to believe the matter, or
(b)to cause another person to act or a machine to operate on the basis that the matter is as stated.
Cases considering section 115 29
[2025] EWCA Crim 1036 · 30 July 2025Interprets
The court uses section 115 to identify the relevant statement and matter stated. It treats the mother’s alleged account of the killing as a statement whose evidential significance depended on its truth. (see paras [80]–[82])
The court applies section 115(3)(a) to the mother’s alleged statement as one intended to cause her other son to believe that the deceased had been killed in a particular way. That use formed part of the multiple-hearsay analysis. (see para [81])
[2021] EWCA Crim 114 · 4 February 2021Defines
Section 115(2) defines a statement for Part 11 as a representation of fact or opinion by any means, including a sketch, photofit or other pictorial form. The court applied that definition to classify the E-Fit as hearsay (see paras [40]–[45]).
[2017] EWCA Crim 533 · 28 April 2017Defines
The court treated the statutory meanings of “statement” and “matter stated” as central to deciding whether the communication was hearsay. (see paras [34]; [38])
The court held that a statement of current intention may be a representation of fact. The message was, on balance, an implied representation of an intention to use the acid to cause harm. (see paras [38]; [39])
Even if the message represented the relevant intention, it was not hearsay because it was not sent to cause the recipient to believe that representation or act upon it. (see para [40])
9 more judgments, and what each says about section 115, are in the
case-law panel in the full Act.
400.This section defines the type of statements which will be covered by Chapter 2. Its purpose is to overturn the ruling in Kearley [1992] 2 AC 228 that "implied assertions" are covered by the hearsay rule and therefore prima facie inadmissible. Under subsection (3), a statement is one to which this Chapter applies if it is the purpose of the person making the statement to:
cause the hearer to believe that the matter stated is true or to act on the basis that it is true; or
cause a machine to operate on the basis that the matter is as stated.
401.Section 115 therefore changes the common law position and will not prevent the admission of such implied assertions on the basis of the hearsay rule. Equally, where the assertion relates to a failure to record an event, sometimes known as negative hearsay, it will not be covered by Chapter 2 if it was not the purpose of the person who failed to record the event to cause anyone to believe that the event did not occur.
402.Subsection (2) preserves the present position whereby statements which are not based on human input fall outside the ambit of the hearsay rule. Tapes, films or photographs which directly record the commission of an offence and documents produced by machines which automatically record a process or event or perform calculations will not therefore be covered by Chapter 2.