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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Okedare, R. v [2014] EWCA Crim 228 (27 February 2014) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2014/228.html Cite as: [2014] 3 All ER 109, [2014] 1 WLR 4071, [2014] EWCA Crim 228, [2014] WLR 4071 |
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2013/02416 2013/05556 2013/00384 2013/00394 2013/00393 |
ON APPEAL FROM THE CROWN COURTS AT
CROYDON CROWN COURT ( HHJ STOW QC & HHJ BAUCHER)
NEWCASTLE CROWN COURT (HHJ GOSS QC)
BIRMINGHAM CROWN COURT (MR RECORDER FEEST)
HULL CROWN COURT (HHJ BURY)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE SILBER
and
MR JUSTICE GREEN
____________________
Regina |
Respondent |
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-and- |
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Charles Okedare |
Appellant |
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Regina |
Respondent |
|
-and- |
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Mohammed Ashraf |
Appellant |
|
Regina |
Respondent |
|
-and- |
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K |
Appellant |
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Regina |
Respondent |
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-and- |
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Zameer Ejaz Hussain, Majed Iqbal, Yasar Hussain |
Appellants |
____________________
Michael Greenhalgh for Mohammed Ashraf
Clare Wade and Taimour Lay for K
Edward Renvoize for Zammer Hussain
Simon Csoka QC for Majed Iqbal and
Abdul Iqbal for Yasar Hussain
Tom Little for The Crown
Hearing dates : Thursday 16th January 2014
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Lady Justice Hallett DBE, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal Criminal Division :
This is the judgment of the Court.
General background
"(i) there could well be a breach of Article 6(1) if an applicant who has absconded could not succeed with an application for leave to appeal solely because it is treated as ineffective by the Registrar or dismissed for the reason in Jones…" .
"(ii) there seems to us a good policy reason for not taking such an inflexible approach. If an applicant, for example, has been sentenced to an unlawful sentence then the sooner it is so declared the better".
"(iii) Having considered the matter carefully, we do not share the view expressed in Jones (No.1) that where a defendant has, by absconding, put it out of his power to give instructions, his solicitors have not been duly authorised to prosecute appeal proceedings on his behalf. We derive some comfort from the case of Gooch in reaching this conclusion. Whilst accepting the remote risk that the absconder does not want to appeal, we take the view that a single Judge or the Full Court is entitled (but not bound), to conclude that the legal representatives submitting the application for permission have the actual or implied authority so to do. The applicant might have wished grounds to be advanced further to those which his legal representative decides to advance. That must be a risk which he takes. Nor do we think that it is appropriate for the Registrar in future to treat an application in these circumstances as ineffective. Applications should be put before the single Judge. We direct that Tucker's application should now be submitted to a single Judge. Should the single Judge refuse leave, then notices of that refusal (as in the Charles case) should be sent in accordance with regulations 12 and 21(c). Any application for renewal will be put before the Full Court in the usual way."
"(1) The overriding objective of this new code is that criminal cases be dealt with justly. "
(2) Dealing with a criminal case justly includes?
acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty;
dealing with the prosecution and the defence fairly;
recognising the rights of a defendant, particularly those under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights;
respecting the interests of witnesses, victims and jurors and keeping them informed of the progress of the case;
dealing with the case efficiently and expeditiously;
ensuring that appropriate information is available to the court when bail and sentence are considered; and
dealing with the case in ways that take into account?
(i) the gravity of the offence alleged,
(ii) the complexity of what is in issue,
(iii) the severity of the consequences for the defendant and others affected, and
(iv) the needs of other cases."
Applications for leave
"Appellants in Custody Only
I understand that if the single Judge and/or the Court is of the opinion that the application for permission to appeal is plainly without merit, an order may be made that time spent in custody as an appellant shall not count towards sentence.
All Appellants
I understand that if the court dismisses my appeal or application it may make an order for payment of costs against me, including the cost of any transcript obtained.
[This form should be signed by the appellant but may be signed by his/her legal representative provided the WARNINGS set out above have been explained to him/her. NB if signed by a legal representative, the appellant will be given the opportunity to request a copy of the form.]"
Renewals
Charles Okedare
Mohammed Ashraf
Zameer Hussain, Yasar Hussain and Majed Iqbal
Applications
Grounds of appeal against Conviction
a) Abuse of process
b) Unreliability of the jury
c) Privilege
Supplemental grounds
Grounds of Appeal against Sentence
K
Grounds of Appeal
"Member States shall, in accordance with the basic principles of their legal systems, take the necessary measures to ensure that competent national authorities are entitled not to prosecute or impose penalties on victims of trafficking in human beings for their involvement in criminal activities which they have been compelled to commit as a direct consequence of being subjected to any of the acts referred to in Article 2"
Article 2 of the Directive provides an extensive definition of what constitutes trafficking.
"13…it has not, however, and could not have been argued that if and when victims of trafficking participate or become involved in criminal activities, a trafficked individual should be given some kind of immunity from prosecution, just because he or she was or has been trafficked, nor for that reason alone, that a substantive defence to a criminal charge is available to a victim of trafficking".