The case confirms that evidence of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on conditions of custody and parole prospects is not admissible as fresh evidence on a sentence appeal, as it concerns events arising entirely after sentence, and any such impact is a matter for the executive government rather than the appellate court. Fresh evidence of a medical condition is only admissible on a sentence appeal where the condition (or its cause) existed at the time of sentencing; where the cause of a condition is unclear, the applicant bears the burden of establishing on the balance of probabilities that the condition was caused by something existing at the time of sentencing. Even where fresh evidence of a medical condition is admitted, the Court will not intervene unless the condition is sufficiently burdensome in its current state and cannot be adequately managed within the prison system.
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