COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM SHEFFIELD CROWN COURT
(Mr Recorder Brodwell)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
and
MR JUSTICE HEDLEY
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LS OW |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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The Queen |
Respondent |
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Gurdial Singh Esquire (instructed by Grayson Willis Bennett, Sheffield) for OW Richard Sheldon (instructed by South Yorkshire Crown Prosecution Service)
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Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Potter :
"I have to determine, it seems to me, the question: was the Defendant aware of what he was being asked? Was he answering it in a state of proper awareness of the implications of the question? It seems to me that the presence of an appropriate adult generally at interview is irrelevant in relation to the reliability of the answers having regard to that question, because the questions were clearly put. I have heard the tape of the interview. Mrs Watson agrees that there is nothing from that which would suggest that the Appellant did not understand what was being asked, although that, of course, is not the question."
He concluded that the reference to the photographs and LS' s admission that he was depicted in one of them should not be admitted, but he added:
"However, I am of the view that the other matters which are raised in the interview, including his presence in the building at that time and his reason for being there and the circumstances relating to it, are perfectly admissible."