Counter-Terrorism Bill
1:00 pm
Lord Carlile: I am not sure that post-charge questioning is necessary if it is about a new matter. I know that some lawyers are in the room. They may or may not agree that if there is an entirely new matter, then there is a new arrest, and the whole process of pre-charge questioning starts again. If someone is in custody for robbery and they are then arrested for a murder, there is an entirely separate set of proceedings for that murder.
The real point that I want to make about post-charge questioning is that by and large people will not answer the questions anyway. You have to realise that the value of the adverse inference, which would be brought into play if people failed to answer post-charge questions, is limited, particularly if people refuse to answer questions on the advice given by their solicitor. In that case, they can then say in court, “My solicitor told me that we had not had full disclosure and I was advised not to answer questions.” On the whole, juries do not pay particular regard to an adverse inference in that situation.