R v Cooper (Sean)
Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Judge | LORD JUSTICE WIDGERY |
Judgment Date | 08 November 1968 |
Judgment citation (vLex) | [1968] EWCA Crim J1108-1 |
Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
Docket Number | No. 2758/68 |
Date | 08 November 1968 |
[1968] EWCA Crim J1108-1
Lord Justice Widgery
Lord Justice Fenton Atkinson
and
Mr. Justice O'Connor
No. 2758/68
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
MR. R. FRISBY appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
MR. C.J. CRESPI appeared on behalf of the Crown.
This appellant was convicted at the Inner London Sessions last April by a majority verdict of ten to two on one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He received a sentence of eighteen months' imprisonment. He now appeals against his conviction by leave of the full Court.
The victim of the assault was a Miss McFarlane, a 22-year old girl, who said that at 11 o'clock on a December night last year she and a girl friend were walking in the Earls Court Road when three young men came along and surrounded her friend. Miss McFarlane walked on a little, being rather embarrassed by this, but, realising that the men were drunk and that her friend was in some difficulty, she turned back to give her support. She said that as she approached the group one of the men came towards her, mumbled something, pushed her into a doorway and hit her in the mouth with his first, with the result that she lost three front teeth, which were snapped off. She said she was somewhat dazed by the blow, which was understandable, but that the man hit her a second time and then ran off.
There is no doubt that an assault of that nature occurred at the time, and there is no doubt that, if the appellant was properly convicted of it, eighteen months was not a day too long. But, as will appear, this was a difficult identity case.
Miss McFarlane had no trouble in regard to identification. The appellant stood on an identification parade on the 17th January, some six weeks after the offence, and Miss McFarlane picked him out at once. His own words were "She never looked at anyone else", and clearly she had no doubt about it at all.
The difficulties, such as they are, arise from quite different matters. Before I come to them, I should say that a Mr. Fay, who was one of the other men involved in this affair, gave evidence for the defence; and the substance of his evidence was that it was not the appellant who had hit Miss McFarlane but another man, who goes under a variety of names, one of which is Peter Burke. Mr. Fahy was destroyed in cross-examination, no doubt because it was proved that immediately after the affair he had told the Police that it was the appellant who had been the assailant; but his sworn evidence was in the contrary sense.
The important witness on behalf of the defendant whose evidence does give rise to the difficulties in this case was a Mr. Davis. He was a friend of the appellant of some two-and-a-half years' standing, but no one seems to have attacked his credit in the Court below. He was not present on the occasion of this assault, but he visited the appellant in prison shortly afterwards and, owing to insufficient time for visitors...
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Glen Richardson v R
...years on each of counts two and three are substituted for those imposed by the learned trial judge. R v Galbraith [1981] 1 WLR 1039 applied R v Cooper [1969] 1QB 267, 271 distinguished R v Radcliffe [1990] Crim. LR 524 distinguished Kwong Kin-Lung v The Queen [1996] UKPC 39 considered THOM......
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Zephrine Charles Appellant v The Queen Respondent [ECSC]
...were enough to create a lingering doubt in the mind of the Court that a verdict of murder was correct, and relying onR.V. Cooper (1969) 1 Q.B. 267 he asked the Court to set aside this verdict as being unsafe and unsatisfactory. 26 In the opinion of the Court the arguments adduced in relatio......
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Stafford v DPP; Luvaglio v DPP
...my opinion, a question of law and, with respect, I do not think that the question certified in this case involves a question of law. 12In R. v. Cooper [1969] 1 A.E.R. 32, an appeal in which no fresh evidence was heard, Lord Widgery said:— "However … we are charged to allow an appeal against......
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Subject Index
.... . . . . . . 279R vCochrane [1993] CrimLR 48 . . . . . . . . . . . . 296R vCooke [1995] 1Cr App R318 . . . . . . . . . . . .279R vCooper [1969] 1QB 267 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163R v Coulston, unreported, 13 February 1984,CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280,290, 291, 2......
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Table of Cases
...CCC 113. . 125R v Cook [1993] 1 WLR 1005, CA . . . . . . . . . . . 110R v Cooke [1995] 1 Cr App R 318 . . . . . . . . 79, 202R v Cooper [1969] 1 QB 267; (1969) 53 Cr AppR 82. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64, 236R v Couture, 2007 SCC 28. . . . . . . . . . . . . .......
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Table of Cases
...345 R. v. Cooper & Anor, [2003] EWCA Crim 2257 ...................................75, 85, 86, 166, 207 R. v. Cooper, [1969] 1 Q.B. 267 (C.A.) .................................................................... 147– 4 8 R. v. Corbett (1973), [1975] 2 S.C.R. 275, [1973] S.C.J. No. 157 ............
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Noticeboard
...there may remain a lurking doubt in the minds ofthe appellate judges which makes them wonder whether justice hasbeen done: R v Cooper [1969] 1 QB 267, 271, per Widgery LJ. ([2007]UKPC 15 at [28])236 E & PNOTICEBOARD The Committee set out the features in the case which caused its members to ......