Criminal Evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Criminal Evidence - Essay ExampleThe leading face in this area was R v Leatham 1where Crompton J famously remarked it matters not how you get it, if you steal it even, it would be admissible in evidence.2 on that point were common law rules which allowed the judges to reserve the discretion to exclude evidence3 at a criminal trial, if this would jeopardize the position of the suspect.4.The standard of reasonableness to be exercised in this regard was that of the Wednesbury criteria.5 .Thus the position under common law was that illegally obtained evidence was admissible, given that it was credible, relevant and did not cause adverse inferences to be drawn against the accused.6The footmark 1984 came into effect in January 1986 and brought changes to the common law position. The main section 78 7of PACE 1984 codified and fused the previous common law position.8 However the later body of case law that developed tended to cast out the common law approach and develop an entirely ne w approach to the section, yet the court of law has not yet given an exhaustive set of guidelines for the section due to the different facts of each case.9Most of the early case law in this regard involved the exclusion of unfairly procured confessions although the position before the PACE 1984 had been in truth much the same.10The position in the cases of r... misconduct by the police authorities in the cases of real evidence.11However the court showed some caution in cases involving Alcohol and DNA tests as there was a likelihood of the getup of such evidence.12In the very controversial case of R v Nathaniel13 the court excluded the evidence of a caudex try on of rapist taken four historic period ago which was promised by the police to be ruined given that he was not convicted. They tried to use the sample again to convict him four years later but the court excluded this evidence and Lord Taylor CJ made it clear for the court,To allow that blood sample to be used in evidence at a trial four years by and by the alleged offences when the sample had been retained in breach of statutory duty and in breach of the undertakings to the defendant must(prenominal), in our view, have had an adverse effect on the fairness of the trial. It should not in our view have been admitted. This case has been followed wherever evidence has been retained in breach of s 64 (3B) of PACE in later cases of rape, murder and theft. For example in the case of Regina v Weir14 the accused was being charged of wild murder on the basis of very convincing DNA samples which were obtained in breach of s64 (3B) of PACE and thereby the conviction of the defendant was quashed.. Recently however, in the Attorney Generals Reference No. 3 of 199915 the House of Lords express dissatisfaction with this judgement and regretted not having convicted the accused despite the heavy amount of evidence involved.The Court said that It must be borne in mind that respect for the privacy of defendants is n ot the only value at stake. The conception of the criminal law is to permit everyone to go about their daily lives without fear of harm to person or property. And it is in the