§ 50. Mr. Berminghamasked the Attorney-General on how many occasions in the last year he has met the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland to supervise his decisions to prosecute in criminal cases where there is reliance on the evidence of accomplices and to discuss the question of immunity for such accomplices.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland and I are in frequent and regular contact in order to discuss the work of his Department and the general policies which he applies and so that he may consult me on specific problems as the need arises. It is not possible, without disproportionate cost, to identify the several occasions upon which we have discussed the matters referred to in this question.
§ Mr. BerminghamDoes the Attorney-General agree that the basis of English justice has always been the proof of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt? Does he further agree that in non-jury trials such as those found in Northern Ireland, where sometimes the sole evidence is that of an informer who has been sustained during the period of his informership, if I may put it that way, such evidence must perforce be tainted, and that those non-jury trials can never reach a satisfactory and just conclusion, because it is the evidence of one person against another?
§ The Attorney-GeneralAs the hon. Gentleman will know from the written answer that I gave previously, the defence is to be informed of all provisions that have been made for witnesses before the trial. On the wider issue of whether supergrasses' evidence can be accepted by a court, I am entirely satisfied that justice is, in fact, done. However, I do not ask the hon. Gentleman to rely on my assessment alone. I refer him and others to the careful judgment given by the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, Lord Lowry, on 26 October in the case of the Queen v. Gibney, which explained and exemplified the scrupulous care taken by the courts to ensure that no one is convicted except on proof beyond reasonable doubt. I shall arrange for a transcript of the judgment, which repays reading in full, to be placed in the Library.