CONFESSIONS Flashcards
Which Act governs the admissibility of confessions?
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE 1984)
What is the definition of confession?
Under section 82(1) of PACE 1984:
‘confession includes any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise’.
What are the elements which need to be present in the definition of confession?
- Statement wholly or partly adverse
- To the person who made it
- Made to a person in authority or not
- Made in words or otherwise
Admissibility of confession
Under s76(1) of PACE 1984, a confession is admissible in so far as it is relevant to any matter in issue of the proceedings.
Exceptions
S76(2)
(a) - Oppression
(b) - as a result of something said or done to the defendant which was likely to render any resulting confession unreliable
s78
Admission of the confession would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it
s126 CJA 2003
(a) - Statement was made otherwise than in oral evidence
(b) - Danger to admit the confession as it would result in undue waste of time, susbtantially outweighs the case, taking account the value of the evidence
Common law discretionary exclusion - s82(3)
What is oppression?
s76(8) -
R v Fulling - ‘oppression’ should be give its ordinary dicitonary meaning
What are the directions to the jury when a confession is admitted despite objections raised under s76(2)?
If jury consider that the confession was or may have been obtained by oppression or in consequence of anything said or done which was likely to render it unreliable, they should disregard it - R v Mushtaq [2005]
