R v Buckley

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date30 April 1999
Date30 April 1999
CourtCourt of Appeal (Criminal Division)

Court of Appeal, Criminal Division

Before Lord Justice Rose, Mr Justice McKinnon and Mr Justice Collins

Regina
and
Buckley

Criminal evidence - fingerprint evidence - whether admissible

Whether fingerprint evidence admissible

If there were fewer than eight ridge characteristics matching the fingerprints of an accused with fingerprints found by the police, it was unlikely that a judge would exercise his discretion to admit such evidence and, unless there were exceptional circumstances, the prosecution should not seek to introduce it.

The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, so stated when dismissing an appeal by Robert John Buckley against his conviction on March 3, 1998, at Manchester Crown Court (Mr Justice Holland and a jury) of aggravated burglary.

Mr Alan D Conrad, QC, assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals, for the appellant; Mr Paul Dockery for the prosecution.

LORD JUSTICE ROSE, giving the judgment of the court, said that the appellant, masked and armed with a knife, confronted the victim, aged 75, in her home and stole various items including a pension book.

When that book was recovered by the police two days later, it was analysed as having on it nine ridge characters matching the appellant's print.

Whether fingerprint evidence, as any other evidence...

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3 cases
  • Swan v R
    • Bermuda
    • Court of Appeal (Bermuda)
    • 21 November 2003
    ... ... Nazareth, J.A ... Criminal Appeal No. 7 of 2003 ... BETWEEN: Anthony Webster Swan Appellant -and- The Queen Respondent ... Anthony Webster Swan In Person ... Dept. of Public Prosecutions A. Blackman For the Respondent ... R v Buckley [1999] WECA Crim 1191 Criminal Code, s. 354(1)(b) Burglary — Appeal against conviction — Fingerprint evidence — Admission of evidence REASONS FOR JUDGMENT Clough, J. A. These are the reasons of this Court for the dismissal, on the 5th ... ...
  • William Penn v The Queen
    • British Virgin Islands
    • Court of Appeal (British Virgin Islands)
    • 28 September 2009
    ...in England. The trial judge was obliged to follow as she did the English common law guidelines declared by the English appellate court in R v Buckley [1999] EWCA Crim 1191 (30 th April, 1999) in the absence of any known case law in England demonstrating any implementation of a new non-numer......
  • R v Peter Kenneth Smith
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
    • 24 May 2011
    ...evidence (a) The evolution of the evidence 8 The history of fingerprint standards and evidence was set out by Rose LJ in R v Buckley (Robert John) (1999) 163 JP 561. He pointed to the accepted position that fingerprints varied from person to person and that such patterns were unique and unc......

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