R v Mills (No 2); R v Poole (No 2)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 17 June 2003 |
| Date | 17 June 2003 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
COURT OF APPEAL Criminal Division
Before Lord Justice Auld, Mr Justice Keith and Mr Justice Simon.
Criminal appeal - reference by Criminal Cases Review Commission - only exceptional circumstances justify revisiting previous decision
Although on a reference to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, any point might be argued, the court still had to find there were exceptional circumstances for revisiting its previous decision when there was no new argument, whether of law or fact, or new evidence.
The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, so held in allowing the appeals, on a reference by the commission, of Gary Mills and Anthony Keith Poole against their convictions on January 26, 1990 at Bristol Crown Court (Mr Justice Swinton Thomas and a jury) of murder for which they were each sentenced to life imprisonment.
On April 16, 1996, the Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Otton, Mr Justice Ian Kennedy and Mr Justice Keene) granted an extension of time but dismissed their appeals against conviction. A point of law of general public importance was certified and the House of Lords dismissed the appeals (The Times July 30, 1997; (1998) AC 382).
In October 1998 at a trial in which Detective Inspector Gladding, the second most senior officer involved in the investigation, sued Channel 4, the makers of a television programme, for libellous allegations about his conduct in the investigation and at the trial, the jury upheld Channel 4's defence of justification.
The appellants then sought a reference from the commission. In November 2000, the commission after a thorough investigation declined to make one.
The appellants' application for judicial review of that decision in December 2001 was dismissed by the Divisional Court (Lord Woolf, Lord Chief Justice and Mr Justice Ouseley) who held that the commission had been entitled not to make a referral, but Lord Woolf in the judgment of the court expressed the view that "the Court of Appeal could now have a doubt about the safety of the convictions".
Following a further application, the commission made the current referral.
Miss Vera Baird, QC and Mr Joel Bennathan for Mills; Mr Edward Fitzgerald, QC and Mr Charles Bott for Poole; Mr Alun Jenkins, QC and Miss Sarah Reagan for the Crown.
LORD JUSTICE AULD, giving the reserved judgment of the court, said that at about midnight on the night in question...
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