TNAG-0679-FCO40-828-Allegations-of-corruption-and-bribery-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 212

of eligibility for legal aid, the difficulty of ascertaining the specialities of solicitors, the need for a sort of casualty or emergency examination service, the desirability of an agency specifically designed to assist casualties, and the lack of instruction in the schools in the elements of the law. The client sometimes expected a lot of professional and un- remunerative service for a small fee, he sometimes broke a contract, ignored the advice of the solicitor, and then blamed the solicitor for the consequences.

The afternoon session was devoted to criminal matters and opened by Tom Sargant, Secretary of JUSTICE. He said that the convicted man alleging wrongful conviction faced a very difficult task. It was difficult to find somebody to listen to him, apart from believing him. His story might be incredible or unlikely, but it could be true. Allegations of unfair trials could be unjustified, or based upon a misunderstanding of trial procedure, but in recent years there have been a disturbing number of exposures of wrongful convictions. Sometimes the lawyers were not as competent as they should have been in tracing witnesses and ensuring their attendance at the trial. The law itself needed improvement, in order to deal, for example, with the vexed problem of the disputed verbals and of identification, where statutory safeguards were required. Legal aid provision for appellants was still inadequate, despite improvements in recent years, because of the difficulty and expense of carrying out extensive investigations. The success of an appeal or petition should not depend upon the chance that the matter happened to be taken up by TV, or the press, or an MP, or JUSTICE. Even if an investigation was carried out by the police, the report to the Home Office was not disclosed. Fresh evidence was often very difficult to track down and produce, and both the Home Office and the Court of Appeal were extremely reluctant to consider it, let alone to accept it.

Ben Hytner, Q.C., spoke as a member of a Justice Committee which is taking a new look at the problem of criminal appeals and Home Office reviews. He said that the problem of incompetence or error of judgment of lawyers could never be completely overcome, but the system of appeals was susceptible to reform. The power to order a new trial could be extended, e.g. irregularity due to wrongful admission of evidence or excessive judicial interruption. The application of the proviso, because of judicial reluctance to quash, was an unsatisfactory device in such circumstances. The problem of fresh evidence was very real. The Court of Appeal was more amenable to fresh evidence than formerly, but the large number of judges involved had led to a certain lack of consistency in the law and practice. Fresh evidence might involve an allegation of impropriety on the part of the police, and the Court of Appeal was not properly equipped to deal with that. Nor indeed were the police. Fresh evidence might appear late in the day, and the Court of Appeal and Home Office machinery was not too well equipped to deal with this. The Home Office was civil servant rather than lawyer orientated and relied upon the police in order to carry out investigations. Some sort of new review body might be necessary in order to investigate allegations against the police and late fresh evidence.

Master Thompson: said that only about 1 in 10 cases in the crown

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