Elliott Cuciurean v Crown Prosecution Service
[2024] EWHC 848 (Admin)
Crown Prosecution Service, R (on the application of) v Crown Court At Preston
27 July 2023
[2023] EWHC 1957 (Admin)
High Court
Someone pleaded guilty years ago. A review commission thinks there might have been a mistake, so they sent the case back to court for a new look. The question was whether the person has to ask to get their old guilty plea thrown out first. The judge said no, the new court can just look at the whole case again.
Key Facts
- •Michael Mills pleaded guilty at Preston Youth Court in 2015 to 12 offences relating to indecent images of children.
- •In 2022, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred Mills' convictions to the Crown Court for appeal, finding a real possibility the convictions wouldn't be upheld.
- •The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) challenged the Crown Court's decision that Mills did not need to vacate his guilty plea before his appeal could proceed.
- •The issue was whether a CCRC referral to the Crown Court requires a defendant to vacate their earlier guilty plea before the appeal can be heard.
Legal Principles
Right of appeal to the Crown Court.
Section 108, Magistrates’ Court Act 1980 (MCA 1980)
CCRC referral treated as an appeal.
Section 11, Criminal Appeal Act 1995 (CAA 1995)
Crown Court's power to vacate a guilty plea is limited to equivocal pleas or pleas obtained through duress.
Case law: R v Durham Quarter Sessions, ex p Virgo [1952] 2 QB 1; R v Plymouth Justices, ex p Hart [1986] QB 950; R v Huntingdon Justices ex parte Jordan [1981] QB 857; R (on the application of Khalif) v Isleworth Crown Court [2015] EWHC 917 (Admin)
CCRC's role is to identify potential miscarriages of justice, not to overturn convictions.
Implicit in CCRC's statutory function
Outcomes
The CPS's application for judicial review was refused.
Section 11(2) CAA 1995 unambiguously states that a CCRC referral is treated as an appeal for all purposes, including appeals following a guilty plea. Requiring a plea vacation would frustrate the purpose of section 11.
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