Supplying statements to the defence

Statement from the injured person

1. An injured person's statement should only be sent to the defence, if it is served for the purposes of s 9 CJA 1967 or is included in a committal bundle. Care should be taken not to prejudice any civil proceedings, wherever possible.

Statement helpful to the defence

2. If you have taken a statement from a person you know can give material evidence helpful to the accused, but decide not to call that person as a witness, you are under a duty to tell the defence about the witness. ¹

3. Similarly, if you take a statement from a person and decide that the person is not a "witness of truth" and would seek to depart from, or contrive an explanation for his/her statement if called as a witness for the defence, you are under a duty to give details (amounting to more than merely the name and address of the witness) to the defence. ²

4. You should normally send such witness statements to the defence, but if you think there is a good reason for not sending the statement to the defence, you should seek advice from Legal Adviser’s Office.

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Footnotes

1. R v Leyland Justices, ex parte Hawthorn [1979] 1 All ER 204.
2. R v Mills (H.L.) [1997] WLR 458.