Duty to disclose prosecution evidence
01 January 1991
Duty to disclose prosecution evidence
bacdoc September=1992
Edwards v UK (10.7.91) No 13071/87
European Commission on Human Rights
Facts
The applicant was convicted of burglary and robbery and leave
to appeal was refused by the Court of Appeal. However,
following a petition to the Home Secretary, there was an
investigation by the police, and the matter was again referred
to the Court of Appeal.
The applicant's grounds at the second appeal were as follows.
First, it appeared that one of the police witnesses had stated
under cross-examination at the trial that there were no
fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, whereas in fact
two fingerprints were found, which turned out to be those of
the next door neighbour who was a regular visitor. The
applicant had not been informed of this before the trial.
Second, the police had shown two volumes of photographs of
possible burglars (including a photograph of the applicant) to
one of the victims. Her statement said that she thought that
she would be able to recognise her assailant, but she did not
pick out the applicant from the photographs. This was not
mentioned at the trial by the police.
At the original trial, evidence was given by the police that
the applicant had made detailed verbal admissions but, in the
trial, the applicant alleged that these confessions were
concocted. The case before the Court of Appeal was that other
evidence might have influenced the jury's assessment of the
credibility of the police officers. The Court of Appeal
dismissed the second appeal.
Decision
The commission declared admissible the applicant's complaints
that withholding information constituted breach of his right
to a fair trial and his right `to examine or have examined
witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and
examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same
conditions as witnesses against him'. However, the commission
concluded by 8 votes to 6 that there was no violation of
article 6. Nevertheless, the matter will now be decided by the
court.
Comment
The prosecution's duty to disclose has been subject to
considerable scrutiny, following allegations in a number of
celebrated miscarriages of justice, and is being examined by
the Royal Commission on Criminal justice. It will be
interesting to see how the European Court of Human Rights
deals with the issue.
EC Europe Law Civil liberties
Legal Action, John Wadham (legal officer Liberty)