An expert witness who holds a qualification to an opinion must disclose that qualification in the report, to the prosecution, or at the very least in oral evidence; failure to do so may constitute unfairness in the conduct of the prosecution case sufficient to ground a miscarriage of justice. The prosecution has a duty to present expert evidence in a manner that allows the jury to evaluate the opinion, and a bare ipse dixit of a scientist should carry little weight. Where new evidence demonstrates that critical expert evidence at trial was unqualified when it should have been qualified, and that evidence was the only element objectively inconsistent with the defence case, the conviction may be quashed even though the new evidence could have been obtained with reasonable diligence before trial.
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