Admissibility of Spent Convictions in Civil Cases: Thomas v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis

Published date01 July 1997
Date01 July 1997
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/136571279700100304
Subject MatterCase Notes
CASE
NOTES
Admissibility
of
spent convictions
in civil cases:
Thomas
v
Commissioner
of
Police
for
the Metropolis
By
Colin
Manchester
Senior Lecturer in Law, University
of
Birmingham
1974,
a conviction for an
offence. depending upon its gravity and the length of sentence
imposed for it. becomes spent after a certain period of time, provided
that there has been no re-offending within that period. Thereafter, the person
convicted becomes a rehabilitated person and, under
s.
4(1),
the offence is
expunged for all purposes fiom his record and no evidence relating to it is
admissible. The provision in
s.
4(1).
however, is subject
to
some exceptions,
one of which is contained in
s.
7(3).
This provides that evidence relating to
spent convictions can be admitted in any proceedings before a judicial
authority if the authority is satisfied, in the light of any considerations which
appear to it to be relevant, that justice cannot be done in the case except by
admitting the evidence. Although it is over
20
years since the Act was passed,
the provision in
s.
7(3)
has received relatively little judicial consideration.
As
Sedley
J
remarked in
R
v
HastingsJustices,
ex
p.
McSpirit, The Times,
1994.
'there is a surprising dearth of authority on the meaning and effect of
s.
7(3)'.
The provision has, however, recently been considered by the Court of Appeal
in
Thomas
v
Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, "'he Independent,
19
December
1996,
where there was a divergence of judicial opinion on the
scope of
s.
7(3).
The case concerned a civil action for assault, damage to property occasioned
by the assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution brought
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152
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