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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Bromfield v R [2002] EWCA Crim 195 (8th February, 2002) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2002/195.html Cite as: [2002] EWCA Crim 195 |
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COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL | ||
B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE STEEL
and
MR JUSTICE GOLDRING
____________________
MILRON ROY BROMFIELDAppellant - and - REGINA Respondent
Smith Bernal Reporting Limited, 190 Fleet Street
London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7421 4040, Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Ms Chan (instructed by CPS) for the Respondent
____________________
AS APPROVED BY THE COURT
Crown Copyright ©
Mr. Justice Goldring
The conviction
The facts
The complainant’s evidence
The other evidence
Interviews
The grounds of appeal
The directions given
“What weight do you give to what he said to the police officers? Well now, the first point that I have got to make is this: as you know, this defendant has not given evidence; that’s his right. We hear a lot these days, from some quarters, about Parliament having taken away the right of silence. That has not happened. All that has happened is that Parliament has enacted a law which says that if a defendant does not give evidence, a jury may draw inferences, if they think it right to do so, from his not giving evidence. Now, what does that mean? On its own, the fact that a defendant does not give evidence does not, and cannot, prove that he is guilty of the crime that he is accused of; but, depending on the circumstances, you may regard the fact of his not having given evidence as a fact, together with other facts in the case, as helping to prove him guilty.
Mr Meredith [on behalf of the defendant] has argued that the defendant’s prolonged questioning by DC Novelle and DS Bazeluk, and the defendant’s ready answering of all their questions, and indeed his full explanation of what happened, provide an adequate explanation for his not giving evidence. If you reject that argument - but, only if you reject it – you would be entitled to treat his not having given evidence as a fact helping to prove him guilty. It is for you to decide whether it is fair to do that.”
“…what he told the officers [in interview], although…not strictly speaking, evidence of the truth of what he said, because it is a self-serving statement, as lawyers say, it is material in the case, it is before you and it is his account of what happened, it is his defence, in essence, and you can only reject it if the Prosecution have left you sure, on the evidence as a whole, that it is untrue. It has not been tested and probed in cross-examination in court and there are many questions, no doubt, which he would have been asked had he given evidence.”
“…however skilful those officers were in their questioning – that is a matter for you and not for me – they are not professional advocates, and questioning by police officers in a police station is not at all the same thing as cross-examining by an advocate in court. The girl was cross-examined by a skilled and experienced advocate; the defendant deprived you of the opportunity of doing it by not giving evidence…You cannot use your commonsense to assess the defendant as much as what he said because he has deprived you of the opportunity of doing it by not giving evidence…His defence is she consented…As I have said, he has to prove nothing…”
The law
Section 35 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
Section 38(3)
“May draw such inferences as appear proper”
“The defendant has not given evidence. That is his right, but as he has been told, the law is that you may draw such inferences as appear proper from his failure to do so. Failure to give evidence on its own cannot prove guilt, but depending on the circumstances, you may hold his failure against him when deciding whether he is guilty.
[There is evidence before you on the basis of which the defendant’s advocate invites you not to hold it against the defendant that he has not given evidence before you, namely…If you think that because of this evidence you should not hold it against the defendant that he has not given evidence, do not do so. But if the evidence he relies on presents no adequate explanation for his absence from the witness box then you may hold his failure to give evidence to give evidence against him. You do not have to do so.]
What proper inferences can you draw from the defendant’s decision not to give evidence before you? If you conclude that there is a case for him to answer, you may think that the defendant would have gone into the witness box to give you an explanation for or an answer to the case against him. If the only sensible explanation for his decision not to give evidence is that he has no answer to the case against him, or none that would have stood up to cross-examination, the it would be open to you to hold against him that failure to give evidence. It is for you to decide whether it is fair to do so.”
“We consider that the specimen direction is in general terms a sound guide. It may be necessary to adapt it to the particular circumstances of an individual case. But there are certain essentials which we would highlight:
1. The judge will have told the jury that the burden of proof remains upon the prosecution throughout and what the required standard is.
2. It is necessary for the judge to make clear to the jury that the defendant is entitled to remain silent. That is his right and his choice. The right of silence remains.
3. An inference from failure to give evidence cannot on its own prove guilt. That is expressly stated in section 38(3) of the Act.
4. Therefore, the jury must be satisfied that the prosecution have established a case to answer before drawing inferences from silence. Of course, the judge must have thought so or the question whether the defendant was to give evidence would not have arisen. But the jury may not believe the witnesses whose evidence the judge considered sufficient to raise a prima facie case. It must therefore be made clear to them that they must find there is a case to answer on the prosecution’s evidence before drawing an adverse inference from the defendant’s silence.
5. If, despite any evidence relied upon to explain his silence or in the absence of any such evidence, the jury conclude the silence can only sensibly be attributed to the defendant’s having no answer or none that would stand up to cross-examination, they may draw an adverse inference.
The court then dealt with each individual appeal.
“He did not warn the jury that the condition for holding a defendant’s silence at trial against him was that the only sensible explanation for that silence was that he had no answer to the case…or none that could have stood up to cross-examination…We consider that without the omitted directions the jury may have attached undue importance or weight to the appellant’s absence from the witness box.” (Page 10F)
“There was no direction that the jury should consider drawing an adverse inference only if they consider there was a case to answer. Nor was there any direction that no adverse inference should be drawn unless the only sensible explanation…was that he had no answer…In view of these shortcomings, we consider the summing up was defective and the appeal must be allowed.” (Page 12A)
“This court is reluctant to countenance the view that direction of a jury calls for the mouthing of a number of mandatory formulae, and departure by the trial judge from a prescribed form of words will by no means always justify the upsetting of a jury's verdict. Standard directions are, however, devised to serve the ends of justice and the court must be astute to ensure that these ends are not jeopardised by failure to give directions where they are called for. The drawing of inferences from silence is a particularly sensitive area. Many respected authorities have voiced the fear that section 35 and its sister sections may lead to wrongful convictions. It seems very possible that the application of these provisions could lead to decisions adverse to the United Kingdom at Strasbourg under Articles 6(1) and 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights unless the provisions are the subject of very carefully framed directions to juries. Inescapable logic demands that a jury should not start to consider whether they should draw inferences from a defendant's failure to give oral evidence at his trial until they have concluded that the Crown's case against him is sufficiently compelling to call for an answer by him. What was called the "fourth essential" in Cowan was correctly described as such. There is a clear risk of injustice if the requirements of logic and fairness in this respect are not observed.
It is therefore necessary for us to consider whether the omission to give this direction in this case renders the jury's verdict unsafe…”
The current JSB Guidelines
“3…his silence at this trial may count against him. This is because you may draw the conclusion…that he has not given evidence because he has no answer to the prosecution’s case, or none that would bear examination. If you do draw that conclusion, you must not convict him wholly or mainly on the strength of it…but you may treat it as some additional support for the prosecution case…
4….However, you may draw such conclusion against him only if you think it is a fair and proper conclusion, and you are satisfied about two things: first, that the prosecution’s case is so strong that it clearly calls for an answer by him…and second, that the only sensible explanation for his silence is that he has no answer, or none that would bear examination.
5…The defence invite you not to draw any conclusion from the defendant’s silence, on the basis of the following evidence…”
Mr. O’Higgins’ submissions
Ms Chan’s submissions
a. Apparent lies by the appellant in interview that he had not told the Complainant that he was going to a particular café after he left the night-club, whereas the Complainant was able to name the café. The route to the café would not have been on his way home.
b. Apparent lies by the appellant in interview about his mobile phone. It had been disconnected in February. The complainant could not therefore have used it. He told police he had used it to telephone his mother earlier the same evening. When at the flat, the appellant gave her the phone to use.
c. The complainant’s condition after the alleged rape.
d. Amandine was first called at 3.00AM after the complainant had broken up with her boyfriend. She was next called at 4.10AM. She must, on the appellant’s case, have decided to invent the allegation within minutes of leaving the appellant’s flat. Moreover, if she had decided to do that, why not tell PC Kenwood?
e. The detailed complaint to Amandine. What was said to the taxi driver.
Our conclusion
“If there is no prima facie case shown by the prosecution there is no case to answer. Equally, if parts of the prosecution case had so little evidential value that they called for no answer, a failure to deal with those specific matters cannot justify an inference of guilt.
On the other hand, if aspects of the evidence taken alone or in combination with other facts clearly call for an explanation which the accused ought to be in a position to give, if an explanation exists, then failure to give any explanation may as a matter of common sense allow the drawing of an inference that there is no explanation and that the accused is guilty.”
Direction 4
Direction 5
“prolonged questioning [by the police] and the defendant’s ready answering of all their questions, and indeed his full explanations of what happened, provide an adequate explanation for his not giving evidence.” (Page 42D of the summing up)
“If you reject that argument-but only if you reject it- you would be entitled to treat his not having given evidence as a fact helping to prove him guilty. It is for you to decide whether or not it is fair to do that.”
a. The jury could only consider the failure to give evidence if they rejected the defence explanation that he had answered the allegations fully in interview.
b. If they did reject the explanation they must have considered what other explanation there was for the failure to give evidence. We have considered what possible other reasons there could have been. It seems to us, on the facts of this case, there was only one: he had no answer to what the complainant was saying or none that would stand up to cross-examination.
c. The jury could only take the failure into account, if they decided it was fair to do so.