Setting out the law relating to abuse of process in criminal law, it analyses the underlying issues and draws together the evolving case law on different aspects of abuse of process including delay, breach of promise, the destruction of evidence, non-disclosure, entrapment and extradition. In the last six years there has been a significant amount of new law relevant to the development of abuse of process in criminal proceedings under an evolving definition of abuse of process.
- The new edition is fully updated throughout with new chapters and material on:
- What is the current definition of an abuse of process? Reviews the evolution of the definition from the Beckford case, through the Maxwell and Warren decisions onto the Crawley and D v A authorities.
- Lost Evidence Cases - evolving case law in relation to failures to follow reasonable lines of enquiry in the context of CPS and DPP guidance on investigations into communication evidence.
- Non-Disclosure Abuse - probably the most common category of abuse which is argued. The media have recently reported on cases where there were significant disclosure failings by prosecutors leading to the termination of proceedings, but what are the factors judges should consider in deciding whether non-disclosure amounts to abuse of process?
- Entrapment abuse
- Abuse of process after conviction - is this possible? The authors argue that, given a key objective of the doctrine of abuse of process is to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system, the doctrine should also apply post-conviction.
- Is abuse of process in historic sex abuse dead? - In PR v R [2019] EWCA Crim 1225, a Court led by Lord Justice Fulford (the new Vice-President of the CACD) declined to interfere with a trial judge's decision to allow a case of historic sex abuse to proceed, even though the time periods of delay were significant, and the loss of material substantial.
- New section in the Procedure Chapter on the making of Abuse Applications in Regulatory Proceedings
- Criminal Procedure Rules 2015
- International abuse of process cases from the international courts
