Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I move amendment No. 34:

In page 11, line 26, after "concerned" to insert the following:

", for example DNA evidence or an admission by the person concerned".

This seeks to amend the definition of "new and compelling evidence". The phrase used is "new and compelling" meaning evidence which is reliable, substantial and of a high degree of probity, in other words it implicates the person with a high degree of probability. I am not sure that is sufficiently restrictive. The review group has identified only one conviction under part 10 of the British Criminal Justice Act 2003. I should have checked to see if there had been any since 2007 when the group reported. In the case of Dunlop, which was decided in 2006, to which the group refers, an acquittal was re-opened where an accused person had made various admissions, more or less confessing his guilt in respect of a murder.

The review group recommends that any right of appeal or exception to the principle against double jeopardy should be capable of use only in exceptional cases and must be subject to sufficient safeguards. It refers also to the European Convention and to Articles 2 and 4 of the protocol which state there is a right not to be tried or punished twice and that cases should only be reopened where there is evidence of new or newly discovered facts.

According to the review group's report, which deals with the British provisions and the sort of evidence that arises, "safeguards would have to be introduced in the form of: (a) an exacting threshold for the obligation, such as that the evidence is compelling". The word compelling is used in the phrase "new and compelling evidence" which is welcome but the group cites the examples of DNA evidence or a confession to the offence. We propose to insert that here. It does not restrict new and compelling evidence to those two examples but by giving examples it specifies the sort of exacting threshold required before the DPP can make the application for a re-trial order. We want to clarify what sort of new and compelling evidence it is envisaged would be at issue where a section 8 application is made. It is to ensure that this is an exacting threshold and that it is a new jurisdiction which will be used only sparingly.