UK Law Articles
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The Times
November 30 1999
Acquittals may be subject to appeal
BY FRANCES GIBB, LEGAL EDITOR
A WIDE range of judges' rulings could be open to challenge for the first time, under plans for a new prosecution right of appeal.
The move, which could lead to some acquittals being set aside and retrials taking place, is being studied by ministers, the Attorney-General said last night.
Lord Williams of Mostyn said that if the prosecution had such a right of appeal it could lead to a "significant and beneficial change in culture" in the criminal courts.
Ministers have asked the Law Commission, the Government's law reform body, to investigate giving the prosecution a new power to appeal against a wide range of judicial decisions.
Lord Williams said that the lack of such a right of appeal for the Crown meant that there was an "unjustifiable balance" in the criminal justice system.
Giving the Tom Sargant Memorial Lecture in London, he said that since 1972 the prosecution had had a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal against a judge's decision on a point of law. But the acquittal remained even if such a challenge was successful. The prosecution could also refer sentences that it thought to be unduly lenient.
But many decisions could not be challenged. These included the halting of prosecutions on the ground of abuse of process, directing juries to acquit a defendant, or making a ruling concerning the admissibility of evidence, "which has the effect of depriving the prosecution of a crucial plank in its case".
Lord Williams went on: "Ought not the prosecution be able to test that on appeal? If it cannot, are we not allowing in fact a system in which judges are unaccountable to the appeal courts as to a crucial aspect of their responsibilities, at the very time that we are providing them with greater powers through the implementation of the Human Rights Act?"
He said that the imbalance must not be overcorrected so as to put the defence at a disadvantage. Needless delay must not be introduced, and any new prosecution rights should not be greater than those available to the defence.
A filter should be introduced into the system to ensure that no appeal was brought without the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Law Officers.
Lord Williams also strongly defended the Government's plans, which are to have their second reading this week, to remove the right of some 18,500 defendants a year to elect trial by jury.
The Attorney-General, who like the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, has changed his position on the proposals from views expressed in Opposition, said that trial by jury was an ancient right and a cornerstone of the justice system.
But a defendant's right to choose to be tried by jury rather than by magistrates was brought in about in 1855.
