A Crown Prosecutor who decides not to call a material eyewitness on the ground of unreliability must have a proper basis for that conclusion, established through identifiable factors including, where necessary, interviewing the witness. Merely forming the view that a witness's evidence is inconsistent with the Crown case theory is not a sufficient basis. Failure to conduct proper enquiry before declining to call a material witness may itself constitute a miscarriage of justice. The decision also confirms that the 'camp' characterisation of witnesses is inappropriate and should not be used to justify not calling material witnesses.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 81 later cases that cite this judgment.
16 of the 81 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.