David Ormerod

Psychological Autopsies: Legal Applications and Admissibility

yan James, a veterinary surgeon, was jailed for murdering his first wife by poisoning her with horse anaesthetic and his appeal against conviction was rejected. Three years later, the woman with whom he had been having an affair at the time of the death, and whom he had married in jail, found the deceased’s suicide note. Echoing an earlier letter to James, it read simply: ‘Ryan, I leave you absolutely nothing but this note-if you find it in time. Sam.’ The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to the Court of Appeal where the prosecution accepted that the note was in the deceased’s writing and was written approximately one week before she died. The Court of Appeal quashed James’ conviction as being unsafe, accepting that had the note been discovered before the first trial, James would probably not have been prosecuted. Was it not possible to determine the deceased’s suicidal intent without reference to the note? Had an expert been available to testify at the first trial about the other indicia of suicide perhaps James would never have been convicted. In cases such as this. a technique known as a ‘psychological autopsy’, which has been developed in the United States, could be relied upon.

Improving the Disclosure Regime

This article examines the deficiencies of the existing disclosure regime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in particular those in relation to cases involving covert surveillance. It considers the merits of claims for wider disclosure, reviews reform proposals on disclosure in the Criminal Justice Bill 2002, and considers how further improvements might be made.

Psychiatric harm and criminal law

Abstract Case: Ireland Law report: [1996] 3 WLR. 650; [1997] 1 All ER 112 (references are to the Weekly Law Reports)

The Trouble with Teixeira: Developing a Principled Approach to Entrapment

The controversy surrounding entrapment and covert policing operations and the admissibility of the evidence they produce has been reignited by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Teixeira de Castro v Portugal and its interpretation in a number of English cases. This article offers an examination of the cases and offers a principled approach. Drawing on the decision of the Canadian Supreme Court in Mack, it proposes a more structured and coherent scheme to regulate the authorisation and conduct of entrapment operations and remedies for abuses of entrapment.

Reviews: The Modern Law of EvidenceKeaneA.THE MODERN LAW OF EVIDENCELondon: Butterworths, 5th edition (2000) xxii (index) + cvii (contents) + 664pp, soft cover, £21.95

As a final comment, the existing spheres of activity within the criminal justice system are likely to face sustained challenge on human rights grounds as the impact of the Human Rights Act fully unfolds. Add to this the rate of enactment of new statutory provisions concerning criminal justice and one can easily envisage that a second, substantially amended edition of this text will be required in the not too distant future. But for the time being this text, as it stands, will prove a valuable reference tool for practitioner and academic alike.

Review: Sourcebook on EvidenceAllenChristopherSOURCEBOOK ON EVIDENCELondon: Cavendish Publishing (1996) xxiii + 458pp., pb., £21.95.

As anyone who even glances at the law reports will realise, the torrent of English cases dealing with points of evidence continues unabated. When coupled with the growth in academic comment on the subject, the resulting volume of material can all too easily lead to confusion and disillusionment amongst students tackling evidence for the first time. The market for materials books on the law of evidence cannot be doubted. Any book which can filter out the less important material and provide the student with a collection of essential materials to focus their study will clearly be a valuable one.