A delay of at most sixteen months between alleged sexual offences against a child and the making of complaint does not of itself require a Longman warning that it is dangerous to convict. The necessity for such a warning depends on whether there is a perceptible risk of miscarriage of justice in the whole circumstances of the case, including whether actual or potential forensic disadvantage has been demonstrated. The broad test from BWT — that a Longman direction should be given unless the delay is trifling and the risk of forensic disadvantage far-fetched or fanciful — was not accepted as representing the law.
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