A bald denial of the act charged in a record of interview, which can only be shown to be a lie by first assuming the accused committed the act, is incapable of constituting evidence of incriminating conduct and must not be left to the jury as such. Where multiple alleged lies relate to different charges, the trial judge must direct the jury as to which lie is capable of being used in relation to which charge; a global direction that 'the lies' may be used in proof of 'all the sexual offences' is insufficient and may be productive of a substantial miscarriage of justice. A misdirection that an element of a charge is not in dispute, contrary to the defence case as argued, may constitute a substantial miscarriage of justice even where defence counsel failed to take exception.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 2 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.