§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What hitherto has been the attitude of the criminal courts to the subsequent discovery of "human error" affecting full disclosure in criminal cases. [HL5195]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonWhere the error in prosecution disclosure comes to light before or during the trial, the court will usually seek to rectify this by ordering the prosecution to disclose to the defence the relevant unused prosecution material. It is also open to the court to accept an abuse of process argument raised by the defence and stay the proceedings. The court also has power to order costs against the prosecution for any time wasted if prosecution disclosure was delayed. In addition, where the prosecution fails to comply with its primary disclosure requirements, the defence is released from the duty to make defence disclosure.
Where the error comes to notice following conviction, this may be raised by the defence as part of an appeal. In these circumstances, if the Court of Appeal considers that the effect of the failure in prosecution disclosure is to render the conviction unsafe, it may quash the conviction and may also order a retrial.
6WAreasons stated above. Two hundred sexual or violent convictions are estimated to be recorded per annum by those at substantial risk of serious harm to other persons due to a severe personality disorder. The latter group could fall outside the 1983 Act.