M v Director of Public Prosecutions

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Mr Patrick Fields (instructed by Crown Prosecution Service) appeared on behalf of the Claimant Mr Phillip Rule (instructed by Blaser Mills) appeared on behalf of the Defendant ____________________

That is not, of course, to say that agreed errors cannot be corrected. Thus in R (on application of Russell) v Director of Public Prosecutions [2006] EWHC 3054 , Mr Justice Goldring (as he then was) admitted agreed corrections of small fact to the case.

(1) Was it wrong in principle, having regard to Parry v Boyle (1986) 83 Cr.App.R 310, for a member of the court to take part in a reconstruction, thereby directly involving the court and fact-finding tribunal in the contested reconstruction and inhibiting the ability of the defence advocate, who complained at the time, to make comment or criticism upon the nature and manner of the reconstruction conducted?

(2) By the justices engaging in the process of the reconstruction was natural justice denied to the defendant and/or was Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights violated because the tribunal itself had entered into the realm of giving this real evidence rather than receiving it and hearing submissions as to its evidential value, and did the process adopted give an appearance of bias?