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R v AEB & Ors

[2024] EWCA Crim 1320
A judge said evidence from Apple about gift card purchases was inadmissible gossip (hearsay). The Court of Appeal disagreed. They said it was just data – real evidence, not gossip – even though someone chose which data to show the jury.

Key Facts

  • Four defendants are jointly charged with money laundering.
  • The prosecution sought to admit a spreadsheet of data obtained from Apple, detailing gift card transactions.
  • The Crown Court judge ruled the spreadsheet inadmissible hearsay.
  • The prosecution appealed to the Court of Appeal.
  • The spreadsheet contained data on gift card purchases, exchanges, and returns, linked to alleged fraud proceeds.

Legal Principles

Information recorded on a computer without human intervention is real evidence, not hearsay.

R v Spiby (1990) 91 Cr App R 186

Hearsay evidence is generally inadmissible unless an exception applies (e.g., under CJA 2003 s117).

Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003)

A statement in a business document is admissible if certain conditions are met (CJA 2003 s117).

Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003) s117

Outcomes

The Court of Appeal allowed the prosecution's appeal.

The spreadsheet, though involving human selection of data, was considered to be raw data and therefore real evidence, not hearsay. The process of selection and extraction did not alter the character of the raw data.

The judge's ruling that the spreadsheet was inadmissible hearsay was overturned.

The Court of Appeal held that the selection and extraction of data from Apple's system did not transform the raw data into hearsay. The human intervention involved only selecting and extracting relevant data, not altering it.

The Court of Appeal ordered that the proceedings may resume in the Crown Court.

The spreadsheet was deemed admissible as real evidence.

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