A direction that encouragement is established by presence and readiness to give aid is a serious misdirection. The correct direction is that presence and readiness are items of evidence to which the jury may have regard, together with other relevant evidence, in determining whether encouragement has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the ordinary case, presence and readiness alone will not be sufficient. The court also confirmed that exculpatory parts of mixed out-of-court statements are evidence of the truth of their contents, and a direction that they are 'not evidence of the fact referred to' does not accord with the authorities.
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