The use of subterfuge by police, including deploying a friend as a covert agent to obtain admissions from a suspect who is not in custody, is not itself a basis for exclusion of the evidence thereby obtained. The purpose of the caution required by the Judges' Rules is to address inequality in the relationship between a person in authority and a suspect which might suggest an obligation to speak; no such inequality arises from a covert conversation with a friend. For premeditated attempted murder in a domestic situation, a sentencing range of 12 to 18 years' imprisonment is appropriate.
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