A lie told by an accused about the circumstances of an admitted lesser offence (here, assault) is incapable of being treated as an implied admission of guilt of a greater offence (here, murder) where the lie is at least as capable of being attributed to a desire to conceal guilt of the lesser offence. The proviso cannot save a misdirection on consciousness-of-guilt lies in a circumstantial case where it is impossible to say with confidence what influence the error had on the jury.
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