Clause 31 - Further provisions about defence disclosure
Criminal Justice Bill
5:45 pm
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
There is a problem, which returns to something that was said earlier about privilege against self-incrimination. We have some clear rules in our law about drawing an adverse inference from silence. We must give clear warning to an individual about the consequences of saying something. That happens all the time in police stations—defendants are cautioned. I see no sign in part 5 of defendants being told anything along the lines of, ''you are required to provide a defence statement, but we must warn you that if you do so and evidence emerges at trial that is at variance with your defence statement, it might be placed in front of the jury so that they can note the discrepancies.'' There is no such provision. It would be unfortunate if it were to become a practice, although I accept that in some contexts, such as consideration of a defendant's previous witness statement, it would be proper.