The immediate issue in this case is whether the trial at which the Appellant was convicted of murder was fair. The point of law of broader significance is whether it is compatible with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights for an appeal against a criminal conviction on the ground of the Crown’s non-disclosure of evidence to the defence to be determined by applying the test laid down by the High Court of Justiciary in Cameron v HMA 1991 JC 252 for “fresh evidence” appeals.Arlene Fr ...
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Miscarriage of justice - In the Matter of an Application by Eamonn MacDermott for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland); In the Matter of an Application by Raymond Pius McCartney for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland)
Section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (‘s 133’) provides that the Secretary of State for Justice shall pay compensation ‘when a person has been convicted of a criminal offence and when subsequently his conviction has been reversed or he has been pardoned on the ground that a new or newly discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt that there has been a miscarriage of justice’. It was enacted to give effect to Article 14(6) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 ...
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This appeal concerns the inter-relationship between the sentencing provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (‘the 1991 Act’) and the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (‘the 2003 Act’).The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal. Lord Judge deplored the fact that ‘so much intellectual effort, as well as public time and resources, have had to be expended in order to discover a route through the legislative morass to what should be, both for the prisoner herself, and for those responsible for her c ...
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Supreme Court - Press Summary BACKGROUND TO THE APPEAL A is a former member of the Security Service, B its Director of Establishments. A wants to publish a book about his work in the Security Service. A duty of confidentiality binds A and he cannot publish material relating to the Security Service without B’s consent. B refused A’s application for consent to publish. As a result, A began proceedings in the High Court to challenge B’s decision. He claimed, amongst other thin ...
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Appeal allowed. The Convictions for murder were found to be unsafe and were quashed where the original account of the main prosecution witness was not credible and differed from his later accounts, where his evidence was given following an agreement that he would be immune from prosecution and where the judge had not given appropriate directions to the jury on those issues.
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The issue in this case is as to the scope of the words “unable to communicate” in s.30(2)(b) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The defendant was charged with intentionally touching the complainant by penetrating her mouth with his penis. The complainant was unable to refuse because of or for a reason related to a mental disorder and the defendant knew or could reasonably have been expected to know that she had a mental disorder and that because of it or for a reason related to i ...
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Mr Khoury was the chairman, general manager and a director of the Consolidated Contractors International Company SAL (“CCIC”). He has at all times been habitually resident in Greece. In July 2007, Mr Masri obtained without notice an order for his examination as an officer of CCIC in respect of CCIC’s means under CPR 71. The order, granted without notice and on paper by Master Miller, provided for service on the London solicitors then acting for CCIC. It was common ground that t ...
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This case raises a short but important point about the meaning of the expression “market value” in s.79 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The relevant subsections provide as follows: “(1) This section applies for the purpose of deciding the value at any time of property then held by a person. (2) Its value is the market value of the property at that time.” The question on which the House granted leave to appeal has focussed the issue in this way - “For the ...
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This case involved discussion of indeterminate sentences for public protection (“IPPs”) under s.225 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Due to the vast numbers of IPPs, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) was unable to give effect to the Secretary of State’s published policy in Prison Service Order 4700: to give all life sentence prisoners “every opportunity to demonstrate their safety for release at tariff expiry.” s.28(5) of the Crime (Sentences) Act 19 ...
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This appeal raised two questions in connection with the interpretation of Part I of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 – (1) its meaning and consequent effect disregarding s.3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and (2) the impact of art.6 of the ECHR on that meaning and effect. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers noted that under the Drug Trafficking Act 1994, the assets of a defendant convicted of a drug trafficking offence are liable to confiscation to the extent that he has benefited from drug traff ...
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