AC2.3 (15)
Improperly obtained evidence
● E- must relevant, reliable + admissible
● Not always case
Collin Stagg:
○ Suspect- murder Rachel Nickwell
○ Police established ‘honey trap’
○ ‘Lizzie’ (undercover officer) formed relationship over 5 month for murder confession
○ Never confessed- Judge refused Lizzie Jane material (ruled admissible)
○ Judge- "deceptive conduct of grossest kind"
● Police may induce suspect to break law- secure conviction
● Gained by breaking law/violating human rights
● Includes entrapment- police use deception (persuade suspect commit/admit crime)
● May occur in ‘sting’ operations mounted by police (undercover officer poses as
criminal (e.g- drug importer)-induces suspect to commit crime
● English law-doesn’t allow defence of entrapment-such E excluded under S.78
Police+Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)
Christopher Halliwell (PACE laws broken):
○ arrested under suspicion of kidnap- Sian O’Callagan
○ Kidnap-urgent interview (no solicitor)
○ Stephen Fulcher- detective extend urgent interview+conducted it himself
○ Breaking pace laws- should've been cautioned, gone station, given solicitor
○ Halliwell took Fulcher to Sian’s body+admitted 2 murders
○ Confessions ruled inadmissible- only confessed to Fulcher who broke pace laws
○ No formal confession
Pre-trial silence
● Suspects failure to give explanation when questioned/failure to testify in Court- allow
jury draw inference of guilt
● Criminal Justice+Public Order Act 1994
● Even if suspect given legal advice
● Inference cannot establish guilt-other E needed
Taylor Sisters (no comment used to indicate guilt):
○ Wrongfully convicted murder Alison Shaughnessy
○ Convicted circumstantial E
○ Aquitted- verdict ‘unsafe’ suppression of E by police+prejudicial media coverage
○ Michelle-'no comment' (described IRA terrorist-’yet when you answer them they twist
your words anyway’)
○ Taken confession/used indicate guilt
Character evidence and past convictions
● Criminal Justice Act 2003-previous convictions not allowed as E
● Occasions where allowed-helpful court knows bad/good character
● CJA 2003 defines bad character ‘evidence of our disposition towards misconduct’.
● Act provides rule/’gateways’- previous convictions allowed to be given in court
● s. 103 (gateway)- if D has tendency to commit offences,same description/category
● Useful in rape cases:
● Hard to prove is little evidence(DNA)
● Good for jury to hear past allegations/convictions
Sion Jenkins:
Improperly obtained evidence
● E- must relevant, reliable + admissible
● Not always case
Collin Stagg:
○ Suspect- murder Rachel Nickwell
○ Police established ‘honey trap’
○ ‘Lizzie’ (undercover officer) formed relationship over 5 month for murder confession
○ Never confessed- Judge refused Lizzie Jane material (ruled admissible)
○ Judge- "deceptive conduct of grossest kind"
● Police may induce suspect to break law- secure conviction
● Gained by breaking law/violating human rights
● Includes entrapment- police use deception (persuade suspect commit/admit crime)
● May occur in ‘sting’ operations mounted by police (undercover officer poses as
criminal (e.g- drug importer)-induces suspect to commit crime
● English law-doesn’t allow defence of entrapment-such E excluded under S.78
Police+Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)
Christopher Halliwell (PACE laws broken):
○ arrested under suspicion of kidnap- Sian O’Callagan
○ Kidnap-urgent interview (no solicitor)
○ Stephen Fulcher- detective extend urgent interview+conducted it himself
○ Breaking pace laws- should've been cautioned, gone station, given solicitor
○ Halliwell took Fulcher to Sian’s body+admitted 2 murders
○ Confessions ruled inadmissible- only confessed to Fulcher who broke pace laws
○ No formal confession
Pre-trial silence
● Suspects failure to give explanation when questioned/failure to testify in Court- allow
jury draw inference of guilt
● Criminal Justice+Public Order Act 1994
● Even if suspect given legal advice
● Inference cannot establish guilt-other E needed
Taylor Sisters (no comment used to indicate guilt):
○ Wrongfully convicted murder Alison Shaughnessy
○ Convicted circumstantial E
○ Aquitted- verdict ‘unsafe’ suppression of E by police+prejudicial media coverage
○ Michelle-'no comment' (described IRA terrorist-’yet when you answer them they twist
your words anyway’)
○ Taken confession/used indicate guilt
Character evidence and past convictions
● Criminal Justice Act 2003-previous convictions not allowed as E
● Occasions where allowed-helpful court knows bad/good character
● CJA 2003 defines bad character ‘evidence of our disposition towards misconduct’.
● Act provides rule/’gateways’- previous convictions allowed to be given in court
● s. 103 (gateway)- if D has tendency to commit offences,same description/category
● Useful in rape cases:
● Hard to prove is little evidence(DNA)
● Good for jury to hear past allegations/convictions
Sion Jenkins:
