R v Beckford
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 27 January 1995 |
| Date | 27 January 1995 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Court of Appeal
Road traffic - crash cars - procedures needed to prevent scrapping
Procedures should be put in place to ensure that cars involved in accidents were not scrapped before express permission had been given by the police. That permission should never be given where serious criminal charges were to be brought which might involve the possibility of some mechanical defect in the car.
The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Neill, Mr Justice Alliott and Mr Justice Rix) so observed on December 21, when dismissing the appeal of Ian Anthony Beckford against his conviction on June 21, 1994 at the Central Criminal Court (Judge Pearlman and a jury) of causing death by driving without due care and attention while unfit through drink or drugs.
LORD JUSTICE NEILL said that it was submitted that the proceedings should have been stayed as an abuse of the process of the court. The appellant's case was that the most probable explanation of the crash was a mechanical defect but the car had been scrapped before the defence could examine it. The police had not given authority for the car to be scrapped; on the other hand they...
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