R v Albert Sampson and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Lloyd Jones |
| Judgment Date | 18 September 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] EWCA Crim 1968 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
| Date | 18 September 2014 |
| Docket Number | No: 201304506 B5; 201304160 B5 |
[2014] EWCA Crim 1968
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Lloyd Jones
Mr Justice Nicol
Mr Justice Lindblom
No: 201304506 B5; 201304160 B5
Mr G Rutter appeared on behalf of Kelly
Mr L Ingham appeared on behalf of the Crown
On 15th August 2012 a robbery took place in the street at Alscot Road, Bermondsey. The robbers had arrived at the scene in three cars, and at the end of the incident, having forced the driver of a Golf, Roni Byrne, out of her car at gun-point, had driven away in those vehicles and had also driven away the Volkswagen Golf.
On 20th February 2013 Raheem Simpson, Shane Lodge and Rushane Wheelan were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court before His Honour Judge Lees of robbery, kidnapping and possessing an imitation firearm. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in case of a co-accused, Albert Sampson, and a re-trial was directed. That re-trial took place at Woolwich Crown Court in June and July 2013, again before His Honour Judge Lees.
On 9th July 2013 the appellant Kelly was convicted of possessing a prohibited firearm contrary to section 5(1)(aba) of the Firearms Act 1968.
On the same day the applicant Sampson was convicted on a re-trial of the following offences. The verdicts were all unanimous save for the verdict on the count of robbery, which was by a majority of ten to one. Sampson was convicted of robbery, in respect of which a sentence of five years' detention in a young offender institution was imposed. He was convicted of possessing an imitation firearm contrary to section 5(1)(aba) of the Firearms Act 1968, in respect of which a sentence of 18 months' detention in a young offender institution concurrent was imposed. He was convicted of possession of five further counts of possession of prohibited firearms contrary to that subsection, in respect of which sentences totalling four years' detention in a young offender institution were imposed, those sentences concurrent to each other but consecutive to the other sentences imposed. He was also convicted of possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply, in respect of which he was sentenced to 12 months' detention in a young offender institution, that sentence also to be consecutive.
Kelly was convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm and the sentence imposed was one of three years' detention in a young offender institution.
Sampson was acquitted by the jury of a count of kidnapping.
The co-accused Ramesh Simpson was acquitted on all counts.
Kelly now appeals against conviction to this court by leave of the single judge. Sampson renews his application for an extension of time for leave to appeal against conviction and sentence and for a representation order after refusal by the single judge.
On 15th August 2012 Roni Byrne was in her Volkswagen Golf car in South London with a friend, Miss Aristide, and Miss Aristide's infant son, aged two. Roni Byrne parked the car on Alscot Road, and while they were there three cars approached and blocked the car in: a Volkswagen Golf hatchback with blacked-out windows, a dark-coloured Ford and a green Audi A3.
It was the prosecution case that the applicant, Sampson, was part of a group who then robbed Miss Byrne of the car and kidnapped Miss Aristide and her son. There was evidence which connected them to other vehicles, one of which, a Mazda owned by Sampson, was shown to contain a firearms arsenal close to the scene of the robbery. It was not the prosecution case that either the appellant Kelly or co-accused Ramesh Simpson had participated in the robbery.
The issue for the jury was whether the applicant Sampson had been involved in the incident of 15th August. In the case of Kelly the issue was whether he had been in possession of the firearm (identified by its exhibit number ANP/1) which had been found in the console of the Mazda, prior to 15th August 2012.
In May 2013 the Crown applied for a re-trial of Albert Sampson on the first indictment, which included robbery, kidnapping and possession of an imitation firearm, and on a second indictment alleging further firearms offences relating to other firearms found in the Mazda. The judge ordered joinder on the basis that the offences charged were founded on the same facts or were part of a series of offences of offences of the same or similar character within rule 14.2(3) of the Criminal Procedure Rules.
Roni Byrne gave evidence. She said that between four and seven males had got out of the various cars. They were all black, except one of mixed race, and none of them was older than 25. One of them reached through the window and removed her car keys. He was quite short and had a moustache. Another male, who was holding a gun, had jumped out of one of the cars. She described him as having cornrows and being 19 or 20 years of age. This man dragged her out of the car, placed her in a headlock and walked her to the bottom of Alscot Road. Suddenly some cars came skidding down and the man let go of her. He placed the gun into one of the cars while he himself got into another. She saw that Miss Aristide was being forced into a car, although she could not see which one it was. Her own car was then driven away. She had managed to get a glimpse of one of the men, who was driving the Audi. She could not say whether or not he was the one who had taken her car keys. Once they had gone she ran to a doctor's surgery and telephoned the police.
Miss Aristide gave evidence in relation to the incident, explaining how she and her son had been placed in one of the vehicles and driven some way for a short time before they were released.
On 17th August Roni Byrne attended an identification parade, at which she picked out three individuals; those were Simpson, Wheelan and Lodge. On 10th September 2012 she attended another parade and she picked out a fourth man; that was the applicant Sampson. She said that she was unable to say what role he played. She was asked how sure she was that he was one of the men and she replied:
"Not 100% sure, but when I was at the identification procedure I went with a feeling I got when I saw his face. A gut feeling told me as the pictures were going past. I did not feel like that with anyone else. I can't put a description on how sure I was".
In cross-examination she said about this individual: "My heart sank when I saw his face. I know he did play a role, but I'm not sure what role he played". She also said: "I was not 100% certain on the part he took, but I know he was there".
Jessica Aristide picked out a number which related to a volunteer or did not pick anyone out.
On the evening of the incident the police were notified by a member of the public about a disturbance in Lambourne Grove. A silver Golf and a green Passat were parked near a Mazda. A number of black youths were inside and out of the Golf and Passat. These cars then drove off in convoy. Police stopped the Passat and arrested the three occupants: Lodge, Wheelan and Simpson.
The Mazda was taken into police possession. It was noted that there were cobwebs around the wheels. It was registered with the DVLA as owned by Albert Sampson since 22nd May 2012. It had been re-registered as being owned by Dennis Acheampong from 10th July 2012.
On 20th August 2012 an initial search was made of the Mazda. A self-loading pistol was found in the console armrest between the two front seats. There was no ammunition in the breech but it had two rounds in the magazine.
The Mazda was searched again on 10th September and two guns and ammunition were found in a bag underneath the front passenger seat. The bag was described as a boy's "McKenzie bag".
Roni Byrne was asked to describe the gun she had seen. She said that it was all black, square and about the size of the holder's hand or slightly bigger. She was shown photographs of the loaded hand gun found in the console of the Mazda and she said it was very similar to the gun which had been used in the robbery.
The registered keeper of the Mazda was the applicant Sampson. He was arrested on 8th September. He was driving a blue Audi A3 at the time. In interview he handed in a prepared statement in which he said that he had sold the Mazda to someone called Dennis Acheampong. He also gave an alibi for the time of the robbery.
On 25th September Roni Byrne's Golf was found abandoned in Bermondsey.
On 5th December 2012 Kelly was arrested and interviewed.
Police investigated the transfer of the Mazda to Dennis Acheampong and it was agreed that he was not and never had been the owner of the Mazda.
The firearms and related items were examined for the presence of DNA. On the muzzle of the pistol found in the central console of the Mazda (that is the firearm ANP/1), DNA originating from two people was found. A full profile matching that of Kelly was found to be the major contributor. The evidence was that the probability of obtaining a matching DNA profile if the DNA tested came from another person unrelated to Kelly was less than one in 1 billion. The minor contributor had left only a partial profile and was not suitable for comparison.
The evidence was eventually placed before the jury in the form of a statement of agreed facts, agreed under section 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The relevant extracts read as follows:
" Primary transfer
Primary transfer occurs when an individual handles an item or person directly.
Primary transfer can also occur when an individual coughs or...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
R v Michael David Bryon
...the same basis as the court allowed the appeals in Lashley and Grant. 33 The final authority to which our attention has been drawn is R v Sampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968. This was a case which depended heavily on DNA evidence. However, there were very special circumstances in that c......
-
R v Tsekiri
...the DNA profile of the semen, the match probability being 1:1 billion. Applying the decision of this court in Sampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968 and the approach suggested by Lord Bingham CJ in Adams (No.) [1998] 1 Cr. App. R. 377 this court allowed the prosecution's appeal against the......
-
R v Ben Belhaj-Farhat
...the DNA profile of the semen, the match probability being 1:1 billion. Applying the decision of this court in Sampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968 and the approach suggested by Lord Bingham CJ in Adams (No.) [1998] 1 Cr App R 377, this court allowed the prosecution's appeal against the......
-
R v Webster
...[2016] Crim. L.R. 275; [2016] 1 Cr. App. R. 12, referred to. (12)R. v. Grant, [2008] EWCA Crim 1890, referred to. (13)R. v. Kelly, [2014] EWCA Crim 1968, referred to. (14)R. v. Ogden, [2013] EWCA Crim 1294, referred to. (15)R. v. Tsekiri, [2017] EWCA Crim 40; [2017] 1 W.L.R. 2879; [2017] Cr......
-
Explaining and trusting expert evidence: What is a ‘sufficiently reliable scientific basis’?
...little lecture’ with visual aids could be helpful. Such a short presentation may suffice37. As in, for example, RvSampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968.38. RvBracewell (1979) 68 Cr App R 4; RvGian and Mohd-Yussuf [2009] EWCA Crim 2553.39. [2018] EWCA Crim 338.40. Condron vUK (2001) 31 EHR......
-
DNA Evidence Alone as a Case to Answer
...any fact on which he later relied, andCJPOA, s. 34 had no application.(3) It was clear from the decision in RvSampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968 and theapproach of Lord Bingham CJ in RvAdams (no. 2) [1998] 1 Cr App R 377 that where DNA evidencewas directly deposited in the course of th......
-
Voice Recognition Evidence
...any fact on which he later relied, andCJPOA, s. 34 had no application.(3) It was clear from the decision in RvSampson and Kelly [2014] EWCA Crim 1968 and theapproach of Lord Bingham CJ in RvAdams (no. 2) [1998] 1 Cr App R 377 that where DNA evidencewas directly deposited in the course of th......