1 Apr 2021
The judge’s failure to address and dispel an improper prosecutorial suggestion that the appellant’s modest lifestyle and possession of an iPhone and ability to offer bail implied gang membership rendered the conviction unsafe despite otherwise strong evidence; appeal allowed, conviction quashed, sentence set aside and retrial ordered.
19 Dec 2019
The conviction was unsafe because the trial judge failed to give the credibility limb of the good character direction despite the appellant’s defence being encapsulated in her out-of-court statements, and separately failed to give a lifestyle direction about her ability to pay rent which risked an impermissible inference; these material omissions rendered the summing-up unfair and justified quashing the conviction and ordering a retrial.
31 Aug 2016
Although the passport entries were admissible for attacking credibility and showing the applicant was a seasoned traveller, the judge failed to direct the jury clearly and emphatically that such lifestyle/travel evidence could only be used for limited purposes and could not be used to infer prior drug trafficking or to prove knowledge on the occasion; that failure risked forbidden reasoning and was material, requiring allowance of the appeal, quashing of the conviction and ordering a retrial.