Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2005] All ER (D) 352 (Jun)
Neutral Citation: [2005] EWCA Crim 1681
Court: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
Judge:

Maurice Kay LJ, Silber J and the Recorder of Birmingham
Representation Godfrey Carey QC (assigned by the Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant.
  Edward Brown (instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service) for the Crown.
Judgment Dates: 29 June 2005

Catchwords

Criminal evidence and procedure - Evidence - Expert evidence - Evidence of defendant's psychological condition and low intelligence quotient - Admissibility as to issue of intention to commit offence or veracity of defendant's account - Evidence inadmissible - Conviction not unsafe.

The Case

In the circumstances of the instant case, expert evidence as to the defendant's low intelligence and difficulties in coping with stress and demands upon him was not admissible as to the issue of his intention. It was not generally permissible, outside the special area of confessions, for a defendant to adduce expert evidence on the credibility of his defence; nor, save in exceptional circumstances, could psychological evidence be admitted to prove the probability of the defendant's veracity. Accordingly, where the defence case was that he had had no intention of murdering the prospective victim, the psychological reports relied upon by the defendant were inadmissible. The conviction for soliciting to murder and conspiracy to murder were not unsafe.

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