DPP v Atkinson (Robert), Atkinson (Eleanor) and Hanvey (Kenneth)
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | District Judge (MC) P King |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] NIMag 1 |
| Date | 03 September 2014 |
| Court | Magistrates' Court (Northern Ireland) |
Neutral citation No: [2014] NIMag 1
Ref:
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections) Delivered: 03/09/14
ICOS No. 11/076071
IN THE PETTY SESSIONS DISTRICT OF CRAIGAVON
DPP
-v-
Robert ATKINSON
-and-
Eleanor ATKINSON
-and-
Kenneth HANVEY
District Judge (Magistrates’ Court) Peter King
Introduction
1. The choice before any Magistrates’ Court following a committal hearing is a
binary one - either to commit a defendant for trial in the Crown Court or to
discharge him. What this court is definitely not to do is to treat the committal
as a trial. Accordingly a decision to commit is no indicator of guilt and a
decision to discharge is not a decision to acquit.
2. The background to this case has been exhaustively laid out by the Lord Chief
Justice at paragraphs 2 to 17 in his judgement delivered on the 12th March
2014 in In The Matter of an Application By the Public Prosecution Service
for Judicial Review [2014] NIQB 29:
“[2] In the early hours of 27 April 1997 Robert Hamill was violently
attacked and beaten by a group of persons on a street in Portadown. He
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