A lawyer's unjustified threat to withdraw from a criminal trial if the client changes instructions — where the changed instructions would not in fact require withdrawal on ethical grounds — can constitute an improper inducement vitiating a guilty plea and amounting to a miscarriage of justice. The apparent strength of the prosecution case does not preclude withdrawal of a guilty plea once improper inducement is established. Lawyers must distinguish between situations where changed instructions genuinely require withdrawal (because they would require conducting the case on a basis known to be false) and situations where the change merely creates practical forensic difficulties.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 11 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 11 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.