With the police and CPS, it could easily go either way:
On Monday, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC ruled that proceedings should be halted, criticising the conduct of the prosecution and police. A restriction preventing this from being reported remained in place until a further hearing on Tuesday.
The late disclosure of material by the prosecution resulted in the subject matter of cross-examining a witness being “exponentially expanded”, the judge said. “There is now much more to cover than ever appeared to be the case when this trial started,” he said.
The judge also said that he was “extremely concerned” by the alleged failure of the police to follow up “reasonable lines of inquiry” and that he was “unpersuaded” that they had done so.
Something stinks once again in the courts of 'justice'...
Malfeasance is a possibility but failure to disclose prosecution evidence to the defence has been an ongoing problem for the CPS. Innocent men have nearly been convicted and imprisoned for rape because the CPS have failed to disclose digital evidence that exonerated the accused men. This is a problem not only a factor in this particular case but in many others as well.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/nov/15/cps-and-police-routinely-failing-to-disclose-evidence
This failure to disclose has on occasion been discovered but I wonder how many people have been convicted unjustly because of failure to disclose evidence by the prosecution?
When something reeks so badly it equates to searching for a fart in a sewage works.
ReplyDeleteGiven the nature of the accused in this case, it may well be that he has got off scot free while having actually committed the crimes of which he is accused. Or perhaps not. If it is not tried, then no-one will ever know for sure..
ReplyDelete"...failure to disclose prosecution evidence to the defence has been an ongoing problem for the CPS."
ReplyDeleteOh, indeed!
"Given the nature of the accused in this case, it may well be that he has got off scot free while having actually committed the crimes of which he is accused. "
Possibly. Possibly not. Clearly, though, the attitude 'let the State sort it out' doesn't lead to clarity...