Evidence relating to criminal investigations essay 2 PDF

Preview

Summary

This essay will address the following statement "throughout the we of English criminal law one golden thread is always seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoners guilt." This essay also talks about the CPIA and what it is and how it works within a criminal case also talking ...

Description

Evidence relating to criminal investigations essay “Throughout the web of English criminal law one golden thread is always seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoners guilt.” Critically analyse this statement in relation to recent cases and problems with CPIA and the disclosure regime.

In this essay it will be evident to the reader that the following statement will be addressed “throughout the web of English criminal law one golden thread is always seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoners guilt”. This statement will be critically analysed in relation to recent cases and problems with the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and the disclosure regime. When reading this essay it is important to understand what a criminal investigation is defined as. A criminal investigation is classed as the “scientific collection, examination and preservation of evidence” (T.Newburn Pg.67 2008). Another definition is “a criminal investigation is an investigation conducted by police officers with a view to it being ascertained whether a person should be charged with an offence is guilty of it.” (gov.uk, 2015). As well as having an understanding of what a criminal investigation is it will also be useful to have an understanding of what the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act 1996 is. Also known as the CPIA, the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act 1996 is a piece of legislation that “sets out standards and procedures for investigators that; regulate the investigation process; regulate the recording and retention of material that is found or is generated in the course of an investigation” (HSE, 2018). Further on in the essay there will be parts relating to the burden of proof. This is where the police are required “to identify a suspect from the evidence available and, if there is sufficient evidence against him or her, to prosecute that person and establish their quilt” (M.Davies, H.Croall, J.Tyrer Pg.14 2010). One of the key aspects of this essay will also include disclosure within a criminal investigation and how information is disclosed. Within a criminal investigation the Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act 1996 is a key piece of act used as it helps set out standards for criminal investigations. The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 came into force on 1st April 1997 which introduced a guideline on the disclosure of materials to defendants with the prosecution did not intend to use as evidence in its case. (Sancus Solutions, 2013). Within the CPIA there are certain roles that are followed during an investigation to make it a fair and successful investigation. The first role is the Investigator. This is any police officer that is involved in the criminal investigation. All investigators are required to have responsibilities for the following; carrying out the duties places on them under the CPIA, whilst including recording information, and retaining records of information and other material. (gov.uk, 2015) The second role within the CPIA is the officer in charge of the investigation. Their purpose for the CPIA is having the responsibility for directing the criminal investigation. They are also in charge of making sure that there are proper procedures in place for recording information, and retaining records of information and other material. (gov.uk, 2015) The third role within the CPIA is the disclosure officer who is solely responsible for examining material retained by the police during the investigation. Another responsibility for the disclosure officer is to certify that evidence has been revelled to the prosecutor. (gov.uk, 2015) A fourth and final role in the CPIA is the prosecutor, who is the authority responsible for the conduct, on behalf of the Crown, of criminal proceedings resulting from a specific investigation. Keeping on the subject of criminal investigations The Crown Prosecution Service play a major part in the investigations as they decide on the outcome of the investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decides which cases should be prosecuted, it determines the appropriate charges in more serious and complex cases as well as advising the police during early stages of an investigation (CPS, 2017) The CPS must be satisfied that there is enough evidence to provide a “realistic prospect of conviction” against each defendant on each charge. (CPS, 2017)

When evidence is being recorded there are three stages that are followed which link to the collection of information. The three stages are known as “Record, Retain & reveal”. (Sancus Solutions, 2013) Record is, when and how should the information be recorded? “Information should be recorded at the time it is obtained or as soon as practicable after that. Material should be recorded in a durable and retrievable format.” (Sancus Solutions, 2013) The next one is retain. This is, what material should be retained? The type of material that needs to be collected is information and objects which are obtained in the course of a criminal investigation and which may be relevant to the investigation. (Sancus Solutions, 2013) The final stage during the collection of data which is reveal. This is in relation to the act of notifying the prosecuting solicitor of any material that is relevant to the case. Information is graded into categories in which are known as the MG6 forms helping decide what is to be disclosed during the case. (Sancus Solutions, 2013) There are four forms that are used in order to disclose information within a criminal proceeding. They are the following; MG6B, MG6C, MG6D and MG6E. However, the only relevant ones to this instance is MG6C, D, and E. These form are where evidence is recorded in relation to the sensitivity or usefulness of the material in a criminal proceeding. The first disclosure form that will be discussed is the MG6C. This form is for relevant non-sensitive material that will be disclosed to the defence. As well as disclosing non-sensitive material to the defence any other material on the form will be disclosed to the defence at the discretion of the Crown Prosecution Service. Any information that does not fit into the CPIA definition of prosecution material must still be recorded in an MG11 form as it is unused material. (CoP, 2011) The second stage of the disclosure forms is the MG6D which is for relevant sensitive material. This is sensitive material that will not be disclosed to the defence as it has no use for them to know the information on the MG6D form. An example of what could be on this form is an observation location for a covert investigation that needs to be kept unknown by the defendant. (CoP, 2011) The third stage of the disclosure forms is MG6E which is a Disclosure officer report form. It will contain material like the first description of the offender in question and any material that might undermine the prosecution or assist the defence. All the forms discussed must be completed correctly otherwise problems will happen. That is why all forms must be inspected by the prosecutor to see if any material could reasonably be considered capable of undermining the prosecution case for or against the accused. (CoP, 2011) If there was no such thing as the MG6 report forms then there would be many problems arising which can be evident back in 1975 before the CPIA was put into force. In 1975 11 year old Lesley Molseed was murdered by being stabbed 12 times. She was found by a motorist driving down the moorland a day after being reported missing. Stefan Kiszko was taken in for 2 days questions and did not have a solicitor. After a hard two days questioning he confessed to the murder even though he did not do it. (A, McSmith, 2007) In July 1976 he was sentenced to life in prison and was told he must serve a minimum of 30 years for the paedophile murder of the 11 year old. (A, McSmith, 2007) The court found him guilty due to the apparent match of DNA from him to the clothes on Lesley Molseed. After spending 16 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit scientific evidence came to light that Kiszco was unable to produce sperm. Once this was found out he was released on the 18 th February 1992. In December 1993, Kiszko was pronounced dead due to a heart condition. Later on down the line a man called Ronald Castree was arrested and found guilty because the DNA from Castree was a direct match to the clothes of Molseed. (A, McSmith, 2007) This is known as a miscarriage of justice and although this case is not recent it can considered to help bring in the use of disclosure forms. Even though the CPIA may be a useful act within criminal procedures it has been seen recently that it can have it flaws in certain police forces. In 2017 it was revealed by the CPS that 916 people had charges dropped over a failure to disclose evidence in criminal proceedings. These statistics are up from the last report in 2014-15 by 537. (BBC, 2018) This has all came to light after a recent collapsed rape case highlighted a failure to share evidence with defence solicitors. In December 2017 Liam Allan was on trial facing 12 counts of rape and sexual assault. However, this was halted as evidence was later found

to not have been disclosed. (BBC, 2018) The case was dropped because evidence was discovered from a computer disk “showing messages from the alleged victim pestering him got ‘casual sex’.” (BBC, 2018). The problem with this is the police had already searched his computer and not shared the vital information found. So this just shows there are problems within the CPIA and that not all information gets recorded into the MG6 forms resulting in lost information. In 2018 there was an even recent case regarding a rape charge against an Oxford University Student Oliver Mears. The case was dropped the day before his trial was even set to start. This is because a diary was found to have supported his case. Again this is where the evidence had not been recovered or collected in the correct way resulting in a loss of information. Surry police then further admitted its investigation had been flawed and the launched and internal investigation regarding the situation. (BBC, 2018) This is just another example of where the Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act 1996. Within criminal investigations there is such thing known as the burden of proof. This is also known as adversarial justice. It is vital in an investigation that the burden of proof and the standard of proof is shown to be evident. (M.Davies, H.Croall, J.Tyrer Pg.14 2010) The adversarial system does not establish what happened or even the truth about an incident but it requires the police and the prosecutors to identify a suspect. This system will not allow the police or prosecutors to pursue the case unless they have sufficient evidence proving that they have the right person suspected for the crime. “Beyond Reasonable doubt is a high standard of proof and is not only to protect the innocent against wrongful conviction but also protects the guilty where the evidence is not available or exists but not admissible.” (M.Davies, H.Croall, J.Tyrer Pg.14 2010) So in conclusion this essay has critically analysed the following statement “throughout the web of English criminal law one golden thread is always seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoners guilt”. It has been evident in this essay that there are roles for the Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act 1996. They are, an investigator, the officer in charge of the investigation, the disclosure officer and the prosecutor. There was brief description on what the Crown Prosecution Service is. Further on it is evident that there was a discussion on how to record, retain and reveal material in the correct way. This then linked to the use of the MG6C, D, E disclosure forms which could be seen further to have its flaws due to the lack of attention and recording by officers using the CPIA. The essay looked at the case of Stefan Kiszco and how he was wrongly prosecuted for the murder of Lesley Molseed. It was found in the case that Kiszco could not produce sperm which was allegedly found on Lesley’s clothes. However, it was Ronald Castree who commited the murder. As well as this essay discussing the Kiszco case there had also been recent cases discovered to have been dropped due to a lack of disclosure of evidence which could have led to a wrongful prosecution. So by reading this essay it is evident that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoners guilt.

References A McSmith . (2007). Miscarriage of justice corrected as jury finds man guilty of murder. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/miscarriage-of-justicecorrected-as-jury-finds-man-guilty-of-murder-400089.html. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. BBC. (2018). Hundreds of cases dropped over evidence disclosure failings. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42795058. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. College of Policing. (2011). The Prosecution Team Manual of Guidance. Available: http://library.college.police.uk/docs/appref/MoG-final-2011-july.pdf. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018

Crown Prosecution Service. (2017). About CPS. Available: https://www.cps.gov.uk/about-cps. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. Health and Safety Executive. (2018). Key Requirements of the CPIA. Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcementguide/pretrial/after-key002E. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. M Davies, H Croall, J Tyrer (2010). Criminal Justice. 4th ed. Essex: Pearsons. p14. Ministry of Justice. (2015). Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (section 23(1)) Code of Practice. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447967/ code-of-practice-approved.pdf. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. Sancus Solutions. (2018). The Criminal Procedure & Investigations Act 1996 (as amended).. Available: http://www.sancussolutions.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/01/CPIA-handout-MS.pdf. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018. T Newburn (2008). Dictionary of Policing. Devon: Willian Publishing. p67....