R v Baird
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 22 December 1993 |
| Date | 22 December 1993 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Nolan, Mr Justice Owen and Mr Justice Ward
Criminal procedure - indictment wording - "series" - suffiently close nexus necessary
The question whether two sets of alleged offences could be described as a "series" for the purposes of rule 9 of the Indictment Rules (SI 1971 No 1253) so that they could be properly joined in the same indictment should not be approached by consideration of the dictionary definition of the word "series".
The correct approach was to discover whether the alleged offences were linked by a sufficiently close nexus to bring them within the rule, and if there was such a nexus even offences separated by a period of nine years could be said to form a "series of offences of the same or a similar character" within the terms of rule 9.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment dismissing the appeal of Paul Baird against his conviction on July 1, 1992 in Leeds Crown Court (Judge Rucker and a jury) of two counts of indecent assault on boy A and one count of indecent assault on boy B.
He was sentenced to a total of 15 months imprisonment which, on appeal, was reduced to eight months.
Mr Bryan Cox, assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, for the appellant; Mr James Goss for the Crown.
MR JUSTICE NOLAN, giving the judgment of the court, said that the appeal was based principally upon the fact that the offences upon A were alleged to have occurred some nine years before the alleged offence upon B.
A coincidence in point of time, like a coincidence in point of location, might be an important factor in determining whether particular offences could be regarded as being or forming part of a series, but every case depended upon its own facts.
The authorities plainly showed that the correct approach was to discover whether the alleged offences were linked by a sufficiently close nexus: see R v KrayELR ([1970] 1 QB 125); R v LudlowELR([1971] AC 29); R v MarshUNK ((1985) 83 CrAppR 165).
In the light of those authorities the answer to the question whether the counts in the present case were properly joined as a "series" largely depended, in the circumstances of the case, upon whether or not the evidence in relation to one set of alleged offences was admissible in relation to the other, and vice versa.
After considering DPP v...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
DPP v Nevin
... ... 63 CAR 37 IN EX PARTE TELEGRAPH PLC 1994 98 CAR 91 1993 1 WLR 980 CRIMINAL JUSTICE (ADMINISTRATION) ACT 1924 SCH 1 RULE 3 INDICTMENT (PROCEDURE) RULES 1971 RULE 9 (UK) INDICTMENT ACT 1915 SCH 1 RULE 3 (UK) R V BARRELL & WILSON 1979 69 CAR 250 R V BAIRD 97 CAR 308 LUDLOW V METROPOLITAN POLICE CMSR 1971 AC 29 CRIMINAL JUSTICE (ADMINISTRATION) ACT 1924 S6(3) INDICTMENT ACT 1915 S5(3) (UK) DPP, PEOPLE V B(K) 2000 2 IR 199 AG V MARTIN JOYCE & WALSH 1929 IR 526 R V BOND 1906 2 KB 389 R V HAGAN ... ...
-
Peter Toner v R
...reported authorities were in cases where, as in the present case, two sets of alleged offences were several years apart. In Baird (1993) 97 Cr. App. R. 308 this court held that the question whether the two sets of offences could be described as a “series” should not be approached by referen......
-
Hksar v Chen Jingwei And Another
...onclick="Javascript:void(0)" style="color=black;">[4] (1986) 83 Cr App R 165 [5] [1997] AC 117 [6] [1965] HKLR 289, at page 314 [7] (1993) 97 Cr. App. R. 308 [8] DCCC928/2018, [2019] HKDC 1176 [9] Mr. Shah had also conceded that the two charges in DCCC846 were properly joined together in th......
-
Hksar v Chen Jingwei
...onclick="Javascript:void(0)" style="color=black;">[4] (1986) 83 Cr App R 165 [5] [1997] AC 117 [6] [1965] HKLR 289, at page 314 [7] (1993) 97 Cr. App. R. 308 [8] DCCC928/2018, [2019] HKDC 1176 [9] Mr. Shah had also conceded that the two charges in DCCC846 were properly joined together in th......
-
Single-Act Propensity
...([1971] AC 29 at41).20 Nor is Ludlow a solitary instance of this phenomenon: e.g. R v McGlinchey (1983) 78Cr App R 282; R v Baird (1993) 97 Cr App R 308. In Australia, too, Dixon J notedthat ‘The word “series” is somewhat vague, but it connotes some connectionbetween the crimes’: Packett vR......
-
Court of Appeal
...permitted the joinder andadmitted evidence in support of one as evidence which supported theother offence. The appeal from conviction (1993) 97 Cr App R 308 wasbased on three propositions: (I) that as a matter of law the offences couldnot be joined; (2) that, if they could, the judge should......