Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2002] All ER (D) 85 (Apr)
Court: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
Judge:

Latham LJ, Goldring J and Judge Mettyear
Representation Christopher Hudson (assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant.
  Jeremy Grout-Smith (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the Crown.
Judgment Dates: 16 April 2002

Catchwords

Criminal law - Duress as a defence - Intent - Trial judge permitting prosecution to introduce evidence of contents of card sent to defendant by third party for purpose of indicating defendant's state of mind - Whether judge having erred in so doing.

The Case

In the trial of a defendant who was charged with cultivating cannabis and who claimed that he had done so under duress, the trial judge had been entitled to allow the cross-examination of a defendant in relation to a birthday card, which indicated that the defendant viewed the cultivation of cannabis with some humour, in order to show the defendant's state of mind.

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