R v Olu (Nicholas Andreas) & others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Thomas |
| Judgment Date | 21 December 2010 |
| Neutral Citation | [2010] EWCA Crim 2975 |
| Date | 21 December 2010 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) |
| Docket Number | Case No: 2009/02890/D4 2009/02892/D4 |
[2010] EWCA Crim 2975
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE CROWN COURT AT READING
Her Honour Judge Zoe Smith
Before: Lord Justice Thomas
Mrs Justice Rafferty Dbe
and
Mr Justice Bean
Case No: 2009/02890/D4
2009/02942/D4
2009/02892/D4
Mr R Carey-Hughes QC and Mr D George for the Appellant Olu
Miss S Riggs for the Applicant Wilson
Mr R Fortune QC and Miss A Khan for the Applicant Brooks; they did not appear at the trial
Mr I Acheson for the Respondent
Hearing dates: 16 and 26 July 2010
Lord Justice Thomas:
In the early hours of Friday, 2 May 2008 at about 3.54 a.m. Robert Spence aged 17 and Emmanuel Connor aged 22 were stabbed in the St Mary's Butts area of Reading. Robert Spence died as a result of 14 stab wounds, one of which penetrated his heart. Connor had multiple wounds but survived. The appellant Olu and the applicants Brooks and Wilson, together with Carlton Miles and Jemal Powell were tried for the murder of Robert Spence and the attempted murder of Emmanuel Connor at the Crown Court at Reading before Her Honour Judge Zoe Smith between 16 February 2009 and 14 April 2009. Olu, Brooks and Wilson were convicted on both counts. Each was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, Olu and Wilson being given minimum terms of 20 years and Brooks of 22 years, each less time on remand. They were given concurrent life sentences for attempted murder.
There are two primary issues before the court:
i) The admission by the judge of bad character evidence relating to a caution received by Olu for the possession of a knife and the directions given by the judge on his character. The single judge gave leave to appeal.
ii) The way in which the Crown had conducted disclosure. It was contended on behalf of Olu, Wilson and Brooks that this had been so deficient that the trial had not been fair and the conviction unsafe. The single judge referred this issue to the Full Court
There are other issues to which we turn at paragraph 84 and following on which renewed applications were advanced.
Factual background
The deceased, Connor, and his friends Hinge, Stoute, Lessey, Spence and Holder had been out for the evening in Reading on Thursday, 1 May 2008. At about 23:30 pm they went to Club Mango in the centre of Reading; they were there till about 3:30 am. It is convenient to refer to these as the Reading group.
At about 00:22 am another group, most of whom came from Bristol, also went to the Club Mango. These comprised Olu, Brooks, Wilson, Miles and Powell. It is convenient to refer to these as the Bristol group. They remained there till 3:30 am. There was no evidence of any friction between the Reading and Bristol groups at Club Mango.
One of the Reading group, Hinge, was rowdy and ejected by a bouncer. After being ejected Hinge tried to return and had what can be described as an altercation with the bouncers at the club, particularly Husbands and Thomas. A little while later they all moved to the St Mary's Butts area of Reading. This is a town centre area with a number of fast food and other outlets where people gather late into the night. When the Reading group and the two bouncers, Husbands and Thomas, were in St Mary's Butts, there was a confrontation between Husbands and Thomas on the one side and Hinge on the other. This occurred when Hinge opened the door of a car in which Husbands was sitting near to Burger King. Husbands got out and a fight ensued between Husbands and Thomas and Hinge, Lessey and Stoute. Thomas hit Stoute on the head with a bottle. Other fights broke out but at that stage it appeared the Bristol group were not involved.
The Bristol group arrived in St Mary's Butts in two cars, a silver BMW containing Olu, Wilson, Brooks, Miles and Powell and a Honda containing Gardner and Campbell. The prosecution case was that five of the Bristol group who were in the silver BMW (not Gardner and Campbell who had gone to a fast food shop – Perfect Fried Chicken) had for some reason become annoyed with the Reading group. When the five arrived at St Mary's Butts, those in the silver BMW got out, went over to where a melee was occurring, returned to the silver BMW and armed themselves with knives, including what was described as a large sword and attacked the Reading group. The prosecution account was that they walked shoulder to shoulder and aggressively. Spence and Connor were stabbed. The five then got into their BMW and drove away.
After Olu had surrendered himself to the police later in May 2008, charges were authorised against Brooks and Wilson as well as against the two who were acquitted.
The prosecution case relied on:
i) Emmanuel Connor who described five men, two who were dark skinned and three light skinned advancing down St Mary's Butts, each had a knife – one was a Samurai sword, one a butterfly knife and the others small lock knives. They marched in shoulder to shoulder formation. He backed off. He had tried to help the deceased who was being stabbed by four or five men, but he was stabbed too. There was some inconsistency in the accounts he gave.
ii) Spence and Holder of the Reading group who gave similar evidence of about five men approaching; one had a sword. Although others in the Reading group, Hinge, Stoute, Lessey gave evidence they said nothing material which was evidence in respect of the Bristol Group.
iii) Richardson who had known one of the Reading group and had been at Club Mango, where he had had nothing alcoholic to drink. He then went to St Mary's Butts and saw the fights we have described at paragraph 5. He saw Marsden (one of the Reading group who was very drunk) stagger off towards a group of people near a phone box. One of them told him to go away; he did not and he was hit by one of the group who again told him to go away. One of Stoute's friends ran over to help Marsden. The group went to their cars; in a line of 4 to 6 the group went to where Stoute was; Stoute backed away. He saw one had a sword and that the others had knives. He saw them stab at Stoute who had fallen to the ground. Connor went to help him. He fell to the ground. Connor and Stoute then managed to move away and get into a taxi. He then heard a person shout “Bevels, we have some trouble”. Bevilles was later identified to him as the deceased. The deceased punched the man with the sword; he next saw him get off the ground covered in blood and get into a taxi. The group then went back to the Silver BMW and drove away. He had met one of the group who had attacked Stoute before and had been told by him he came from Bristol. He described the man with the sword as dressed in white; he had participated in the stabbing; he had “cane-row” plaited hair. On 22 May 2008, he identified Olu as having been part of the group that had been involved in the attack, but he could not say what part he had played in it.
iv) Tani who had seen five black men get out of a BMW shouting “Do you want to fight. Come on then”; they approached another group who had been involved in a fight. He saw one of them with a knife who then stabbed a person who was moving back; in his statement he said that two had knives. The five then ran back to the BMW and drove away.
v) Braham who saw three of the out of town men get knives – one was a knife with a two foot blade and others had knives, but there were discrepancies between his evidence and his previous statements to which we refer at paragraph 26.
vi) CCTV evidence of the area and of those in it at the time; the quality was poor and subject to some distortion and obscuration. Mr Laws of Kalagate Imagery Bureau was employed by the prosecution to provide his opinion on what could be derived from the images; he produced a draft and then a final report.
vii) On a long view CCTV a man in white could be seen coming down St Mary's Butts to the area outside Burger King. It showed him making 6 stabbing motions and then going back up St Mary's Butts. An image from the camera at Broad Street Mill showed that he was walking with others. Evidence was given by Mr Laws to the effect that they had similarities to the others who had arrived earlier at the Club Mango and of being the 7 who arrived together.
viii) The long view camera also showed a group of five males backing off towards the area where the Silver BMW and Honda were parked. At the same time it showed the deceased getting into a taxi.
ix) Another CCTV camera showed the group of five get into the silver BMW and drive away.
x) There was no forensic evidence to link any of the Bristol group to the stabbings, but there was blood from the group in the BMW.
As to Olu, the case against him was based on him being part of the group and on the evidence of Richardson who had identified a man in white with a cane row plaited hair style; that was said by the Crown to be Olu. He was the only one of the five defendants to give evidence; his evidence was that he had been wearing a white shirt, cream trousers and white shoes. He had driven the silver BMW to St Mary's Butts for the others to buy food. He had seen fighting and had been cut in the lip by a man who had hit him with a knuckleduster; he had run away and had later seen him and had a fight with him. That man was the man in white. He had been to hospital to be treated for the injuries. They had all left in the BMW. He relied on eyewitness accounts of persons in the Bar Iguana.
In the case of Wilson, it was admitted that he was present in St Mary's Butts...
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