Owen Greenhall was instructed by Mark Ashford of TV Edwards Solicitors LLP. He acted for the successful appellant KM whose conviction in the Youth Court was quashed on the basis that the justices improperly relied on information provided in a case management form as evidence in the case.
The President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Sir Brian Leveson, and Mrs Justice McGowan, heard conjoined appeals which raised issues of wider importance concerning the proper use of case management information. The court rejected the DPP’s argument that there should be a presumption in favour of the admission of case management information as evidence where an unexpected gap arose in the prosecution case, for example when a witness failed to attend court. The court confirmed that whilst parties were required to identify the issues in the case, information provided for the purposes of case management was inadmissible without a hearsay application being made. Moreover, the court stated:
“The PET form cannot be used as a mechanism for avoiding complying with court orders or, absent agreement or specific court order, not bringing witnesses to court whose attendance has been required.”
Read the full judgment.
Owen Greenhall is a member of the Garden Court Crime and Civil Liberties Teams.
