R v Lee Hammill
[2024] EWCA Crim 519
Allen Brutnell v R
15 November 2023
[2023] EWCA Crim 1331
Court of Appeal
A man was convicted of sexually assaulting three girls. He appealed, saying the judge's instructions to the jury were unfair. The appeals court disagreed, saying the instructions were fair enough, and the man's conviction stood.
Key Facts
- •Allen Brutnell, a 37-year-old carpenter, was convicted of five counts of indecent assault and five counts of sexual assault on three girls under 14, totaling 26 separate occasions of touching the girls' vaginas over their underwear.
- •The offences allegedly occurred between 2003 and 2009 at Cheeky Chimps, a daycare nursery run by the appellant's half-brother.
- •The prosecution relied on the testimony of three complainants (C1, C2, and C3), who disclosed the abuse years later.
- •The appellant denied the allegations, claiming collusion and fabrication of evidence by the complainants.
- •The defence presented evidence suggesting contact between the appellant and one complainant (C3) after the alleged offences, contradicting the prosecution's claim of no contact.
- •The appeal focused on the fairness, balance, and sufficiency of the summing up by the judge.
Legal Principles
An appeal against conviction will be allowed if the conviction is unsafe.
Section 2(1) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968
Judges must give directions on relevant law and summarize the evidence, remaining impartial.
Paragraph 3(a) of Part 25.14 of the Criminal Procedure Rules
Judges can comment on facts but should avoid an unbalanced summing up.
Mears v The Queen [1993] 1 WLR 818
Not every departure from good practice renders a trial unfair; however, gross or persistent departures can lead to a conviction being quashed.
Randall v The Queen [2002] UKPC 19
In cases of procedural unfairness, the seriousness of irregularities is weighed to determine fairness.
Bernard v The State of Trinidad and Tobago [2007] UKPC 34
Balance and fairness are guiding principles in assessing summing-up issues; failure of trial counsel to raise a point isn't necessarily fatal but is indicative.
R v Awil [2022] EWCA Crim 1802 and R v BKY [2023] EWCA Crim 1095
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
The court found the summing up to be fair and did not render the convictions unsafe. The judge's comments were permissible and did not unduly influence the jury.