The Case

In the instant case, a preparatory hearing had been held pursuant to s7 of the prior to the commencement on 4April 2005 of hearsay provisions under the . Subsequently, the judge ruled that those provisions applied to the trial, which commenced after that date. The reference to 'proceedings in which the strict rules of evidence apply' in s140 of the 2003 Act meant, primarily, trials in which a jury or a judge was determining factual issues between the prosecution and defence. In relation to such circumstances, the proceedings in question did not begin until the jury was empanelled (or the judge embarked upon his task). Such an approach would produce uniformity as between prosecutions of different types. The hearsay provisions were applicable as the trial, in the circumstances of the instant case and for the purposes of the provisions under the 2003 Act had not commenced at the time of the preparatory hearing.