CASE SUMMARIES : Identification

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Identification

North Yorkshire Trading Standards Dept v Williams; QB (Div Ct) (Rose LJ, Potts J); 3 Nov 1994.

Justices should adopt the same approach to dock identification evidence in cases of non-arrestable summary offences as in more serious ones. That was so even where trading standards officers had to use a procedure which precluded any form of identification procedure contained in Code D of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The principles by which justices should be guided were: (i) although dock identifications were generally undesirable they were admissible in law; (ii) whether a d o ck identification should be admitted was for the justices to decide in exercising their discretion in relation to the facts of the case; (iii) if dock identification evidence was admitted, justices would have to be reminded by their clerk of the dangers of such identification in accordance with R v Turnbull 1977 QB 224.

Andrew Goodman (Harland & Co, York) for the appellant; the respondent did not appear.