Juliet Donovan wins in Court of Appeal

24 November 2017

One of our senior and experienced criminal barristers, Juliet Donovan, was successful recently acting for the Defendant on appeal against conviction to the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division.

On the 31st August 2016 in Regina v R, the Defendant was found guilty of Rape of a Child, with two counts of Sexual Activity with a Child, with two counts of taking indecent images of a child, and one count of making indecent images of a child and faced a sentence of 17 years.

On the 9th October 2017 the Court of Appeal quashed R’s conviction as it was found to be “unsafe.” This was another victory for the concept of the “safe trial ” not to mention fair. The jury inadvertently took ABE transcripts with them to deliberate. The Judge in an effort to save the trial allowed it to continue and in effect the Court of Appeal took the view that the risk of the jury seeing the transcripts without the warning required by the Criminal Procedure Rules was too great.

Please contact the clerks on 01473 214481 or email the clerks for further information regarding your legal problem.

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