Welcome to the October edition of our monthly Criminal Appeals Bulletin.
The Bulletin aims to highlight recent changes in case law and procedure in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Caribbean and Hong Kong and to provide practical guidance to those advising on appellate matters. Our monthly case summaries illustrate when an appellate court is likely to interfere with conviction or sentence, as well as looking at the courts’ approach to procedural matters.
The featured article focuses on a current appeal topic - in this edition Barra Mc Grory QC (former DPP of Northern Ireland) analyses the approach of the NICA to “unduly lenient sentence” appeals.
We look at the latest CACD decisions on:
Failure to ensure that an unwell defendant can give evidence
Direction on adverse inference
Admissibility of bad character evidence to correct a false impression
Admissibility of a conviction obtained in a first trial in a re-trial
and appellate sentencing decisions from Hong Kong on:
Retroactivity and Unlawful assembly
Drug Trafficking and Remorse
It is hoped that the Caribbean section will return in the next issue.
Doughty Street has some of the most experienced appellate practitioners at the Bar, including the contributors to the leading works on appellate procedure - The Criminal Appeals Handbook, Taylor on Criminal Appeals, Blackstones Criminal Practice (appeals section), Halsbury’s Laws (Appeals).
Please feel free to e-mail us or to call our crime team on 020 7400 9088. We also offer our instructing solicitors a free Advice Line, where they can discuss initial ideas about possible appeals, at no cost to them or their client. More information on our services can be found on our website.
If you would like to know more, or discuss how our barristers may be able to help you and your clients, please contact Maurice MacSweeney, our Business Development Director, on 020 7404 1313.
