“The Supreme Court in R v Horncastle [2009] UKSC14 has upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal that, in appropriate circumstances, the Crown may rely wholly or mainly on hearsay evidence to establish its case. The Court of Appeal had, however, emphasised the need to check the reliability of the hearsay evidence in such situations.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 11th February 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“This report provides evidence from six court centres over eight months in 2006 on the use of applications to admit bad character evidence in criminal cases. This provision was introduced as part of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and was designed to allow evidence of a defendant’s bad character to play a greater part in the prosecution of cases.”
Ministry of Justice, 9th March 2009
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
R v Freeman; R v Crawford [2008] EWCA Crim 1863; [2008] WLR (D) 287
“Some care was required in directing a jury when approaching the cross-admissibility of bad character evidence.”
WLR Daily, 11th August 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
“Where the Crown chose to rely on relevant bad character evidence which it had decided not to make the subject of a criminal charge, that could not have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit such evidence.”
The Times, 16th May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
R v Ngyuen [2008] EWCA Crim 585; [2008] WLR (D) 94
“The mere fact that the Crown chose to rely on bad character evidence which it had decided not to make the subject of a criminal charge could not of itself have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit that evidence.”
WLR Daily, 20th March 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Trusting the Jury (PDF)
Speech by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
The Criminal Bar Association Kalisher Lecture, 23rd October 2007.
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
“Where the case against a defendant on one count relied on circumstantial evidence relating to other counts charged in the same proceedings, that evidence fell within the definition of bad character in s 98 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and was therefore only admissible pursuant to the bad character provisions under that Act.”
WLR Daily, 16th July 2007
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Propensity and credibility distinction unrealistic
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
“Once a defendant’s previous convictions had been admitted in evidence, the jury could attach significance to them in any respect in which they were relevant.”
The Times, 4th July 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Admitting previous misconduct
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
“Evidence of misconduct by a defendant was admissible at trial if it had some nexus with the offences charged.”
The Times, 2nd July 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
R v. Campbell [2007] EWCA Crim 1472
“If a defendant’s previous convictions were admitted in evidence, the jury could attach significance to them in any respect in which they were relevant and relevance could normally be deduced by the application of common sense. The mere fact that there was an issue as to whether a defendant’s case was truthful did not mean that evidence could be admitted to show that he had a propensity to be untruthful.”
WLR Daily, 26th June 2007
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
R v. Tirnaveanu [2007] EWCA Crim 1239
“Evidence of misconduct by a defendant was evidence “to do with” the alleged facts of the offence with which the defendant was charged and therefore excluded from the definition of bad character in s 98(a) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, if it had some nexus in time with that offence.”
WLR Daily, 24th May 2007
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Shouting not relevant to offence
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
“The fact that a defendant shouted at his partner in the context of a charge of murdering his friend was not evidence amounting to reprehensible behaviour within the bad character provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.”
The Times, 24th April 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
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