PACE

1
PACE

• Confessions

2
Confessions

• Under the old common law, confessions were not
  admitted per se, as they would be involuntary,
  if it was shown that it was derived as a result
  of a threat or a promise by a person in
  authority.
• R V Smith (1959)
• as per Lord Parker CJ,
• even the most gentle, if I may put it that way,
  threats or slight inducements,..may amount to
  involuntary confessions.

3
Confessions

• R v Smith (1959)
• Facts A sergeant major had put the whole
  company on parade and told them that no one would
  be allowed to move until one of them gave details
  about which of them had been involved in a fight
  resulting in a stabbing.
• Held the court held that this would amount to
  an involuntary admission that should not have
  been admitted.

4
Confessions

• R v Zavekas (1970)
• Facts A conviction was quashed where it had
  resulted froman improper promise by the police.
  The suspect was supposed to be on an
  identification parade, and they were waiting
  sometime to have this arranged.
• The police promised him that he would be realised
  and allowed to go home if he had made a
  confession statement.
• He did so.
• Held The court refused to allow the evidence of
  the admission as it was involuntary.

5
Statute -Confessions

• In practice it was difficult for the courts to
  determine whether the statements were made
  'involuntarily, looking at some of the cases we
  have seen so far, it is evident.
• Voluntary meant one's own free will....this was
  difficult to determine.
• Statutory Provision for Confession to overcome
  the difficulties and anamolies in the common law
  
• S 76 PACE 1984

6
Statute -Confessions

• S76 (1) PACE general rule
• In any proceedings a confession made by an
  accused person may be given in evidence against
  him in so far as it is relevant to any matter in
  issue in the proceedings and is not excluded by
  the court in pursuance of this section.

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Definition -Confessions

• S82 (1) PACE Interpretation definition of
  confession
• confession includes any statement wholly or
  partly adverse to the person who made it, whether
  made to a person in authority or not and made in
  words or otherwise'

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Confession not allowed if

• S76 (2) PACE confession would not be admitted -
  exception
• ..If the confession was or may have been obtained
  
• a) by oppression of the person who made it or
• b) in consequence of anything said or done which
  was likely, in the circumstances at that time, to
  render unreliable, any confession which might be
  made by him in consequence thereof.
• The prosecution has to prove that the confession
  was not obtained as above,(not withstanding that
  it may be true) beyond reasonable doubt.

9
Confession not allowed if

• What is oppression ?
• S76(8)
• Oppression, includes 'torture, inhuman or
  degrading treatment, and the use or threat of
  violence.

10
Confession not allowed if

• The judge decides whether the confession was
  obtained, contrary to S 76 (2) (a) (b).
• This is done in a trial within a trial voir
  dire
• So that the Jury will not hear the whole of the
  evidence(confession) before the issue of
  admissibility of the evidence is decided.
• R v Liverpool Juvenile Court ex p R (1988)

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Confession not allowed if

• Generally cases show that courts have been
  reluctant to find and exclude confessions on
  grounds of oppression where it is not clearly so.
• R v Miller (1986)
• Facts a paranoid schizophrenic had confessed to
  a killing which was obtained after hours of
  questioning.
• The CA held, despite medical evidence showing
  that he had gone into hallucinations as a result
  of the protracted questioning, that the evidence
  was obtained properly.

12
Confession not allowed if

• Generally cases show that courts have been
  reluctant to find and exclude confessions on
  grounds of oppression where it is not clearly so.
• R v Fulling (1987) CA
• Held It was not oppression, for the police to
  tell the defendant that her lover had been having
  an affair with another woman, which so affected
  her that she made a confession.
• The court gave oppression its dictionary meaning
  
• the exercise of authority or power in a
  burdensome, harsh, or wrongful manner, unjust or
  cruel treatment of subjects inferiors etc,..the
  imposition of unreasonable or unjust burdens.

13
Confessionunreliable 76(2)(b)

• ..in consequence of anything said or
  done...renders unreliable.
• R v Goldenberg (1988)
• Held the words, anything said or done refers to
  words or acts done by someone other then the
  accused, and something external to the person
  making the confession and to something which is
  likely to have some influence on him.

14
Confessionunreliable 76(2)(b)

• R v Heaton (1993)
• Facts appellant convicted of manslaughter of
  his 26 day old son. He had shaken the child hard
  to quieten him.
• The police interviewed him both without and later
  with a solicitor present.
• Some voices were raised. Questions were repeated.
  Inteview lasted about 75 mins.
• There was no evidence to show that the police
  were hostile or oppressive.
• Held appellant cannot rely on S76(2)(a) or (b).

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Improperly or illegally obtained evidence

• Common law used to exclude evidence that was
  improperly or illegally obtained merely because
  it would be unfair to the defendant.
• See R v Sang (1979) HL
• The court admitted evidenced obtained from a
  police informer (agent provocateur) who also
  induced the accused to commit a crime, so that he
  may be arrested and questioned for the main
  offence.
• The court admitted the evidence and said that
  only evidence whose prejudicial effect outweighs
  the probative value would be excluded and not
  just all improperly obtained evidence would be
  excluded.
• also , Kuruma son of Kaniu v R (1955) PC

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Improperly or illegally obtained evidence

• S78(1) PACE 1984 improperly obtained evidence.
  (exclusion of unfair evidence)
• ...The court may refuse to allow evidence on
  which the prosecution proposes to be given if it
  appears to the court that, having regard to all
  the circumstances, including the circumstances in
  which the evidence was obtained, the admission of
  the evidence would have such an adverse effect on
  the fairness of the proceedings that the court
  ought not to admit it