Where the significance of a legal element (here, the date from which a step-child relationship existed and the date from which the offence applied to male children) is only recognised late in a trial, the verdict will not be unsafe and unsatisfactory if the jury is appropriately re-directed and the evidence strongly supports the Crown case on timing. A trial judge is not necessarily required to recapitulate the evidence after re-directing on the law, particularly where the jury is evidently alive to the relevant issues.
The full text is available to signed-in members.