A trial has been halted as a result of the recent
Law Lords ruling.
The Lords said that anonymity of crucial witnesses prevented the accused from having a fair trial. Today a Crown Court judge halted a trial because, he said, the jury could not be expected to discount the evidence presented by anonymous witnesses. The trial would therefore, as the law stands, be automatically unfair and any conviction overturned.
The idea of witnesses being able to give evidence completely anonymously has always bothered me. English jurisprudence is very much dependent on the ability of the parties to test the evidence of the witnesses in cross-examination.
Bookmarks