Retrospective psychiatric evidence that an applicant was 'reasonably likely' to have been experiencing symptoms of a mental illness around the time of a guilty plea, without establishing the condition was active on the day or that it affected capacity, is insufficient to discharge the onus of establishing a miscarriage of justice. Where a complete and logical forensic explanation for the plea exists (here, devastating new DNA evidence and a favourable sentencing concession), and the applicant is found to be an unreliable historian, the integrity of the plea will be upheld.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 13 later cases that cite this judgment.
4 of the 13 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.