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House of Lords
7th July 2009
On the 7th - 9th July John Gibson appeared in the House of Lords in the appeal of Horncastle and others.
This was one of the last cases before the Law Lords before the advent of the Supreme Court.
The case involves a conflict between Strasbourg and domestic law and statute and a clash between the prosecution’s use of hearsay evidence and a defendant’s right to confront his accusers.
Article 6 (3) (d) of the Convention on Human Rights states that as a minimum right a defendant should be able to examine or have examined the witnesses against him. S116(d) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 makes admissible the statement of a deceased.
The European Court of Human Rights, in the case of Al-Khawaja and Tahery, found that the reading of a deceased’s statement was a denial of a defendant’s right to a fair trial if the statement was the ‘sole or decisive’ evidence.
The Court is expected to hand down their Judgment in September.