Ashton v DPP
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 23 June 1995 |
| Date | 23 June 1995 |
| Court | House of Lords |
Queen's Bench Divisional Court
Before Lord Justice Balcombe and Mr Justice Buxton
Criminal evidence - challenge to use of intoximeter
When seeking to challenge the admissibility of evidence from an intoximeter programmed in a way approved by the Home Office to compensate for the presence of a substance other than alcohol, it would be appropriate to make a challenge under section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and not section 69.
The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so stated when dismissing an appeal by case stated by Colin Ashton of his conviction by Leicester Justices on January 25, 1995 of driving with excess alcohol contrary to section 5(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988
Mr Andrew Alty for Mr Ashton; Mr Paul Mann for the prosecution.
LORD JUSTICE BALCOMBE said that evidence concerning the Lion Intoximeter 3000 machine was that at the state of scientific knowledge at the time it was produced it was thought proper to programme it in a way that if something believed to be acetone triggered the sensor, the machine compensated by reducing the reading given for the level of alcohol.
It could not be said that use of the machine as still approved by the Home Office could amount to improper use, since that allegation indicated something amounting to impropriety or use in such a manner as to produce an unfair evidence designed or weighted against the defendant.
It was arguable to say that a statement produced by the...
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