Notice And Grounds Of Appeal Or Application For Permission To Appeal Against Conviction Or Sentence To The Court Of Appeal (Criminal Division) (Page 7 of 7) in pdf

Notice And Grounds Of Appeal Or Application For Permission To Appeal Against Conviction Or Sentence To The Court Of Appeal (Criminal Division) Page 7

An appeal against conviction is not another trial which looks again at the facts of the case in the way the jury did to

decide if the appellant is guilty or innocent. The Court of Appeal will only be concerned with whether the conviction is

unsafe and will consider issues such as: whether the trial as a whole was fair; whether the trial Judge made the correct

legal rulings during the course of the trial (for example, in relation to disclosure of evidence, the admissibility of

evidence or a submission of no case to answer); whether the trial Judge fairly summed up the case to the jury with the

appropriate legal directions; “fresh evidence” that was not presented at trial.

An appeal against sentence will only succeed if the sentence was “manifestly excessive” (i.e. the sentence was too

high given the facts of the offence or in light of any available personal mitigation) and/or “wrong in principle” (i.e. the

sentencing Judge made some mistake when imposing the sentence. For example, there was no power to pass the

particular sentence imposed or the sentence was passed on some incorrect factual or legal basis). Grounds should

therefore explain why the sentence was “manifestly excessive” and/or “wrong in principle”.

Where a certificate that the case is fit for appeal is granted by the trial judge this should be stated (and see

generally paragraph 17 of “A Guide to proceedings in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division”).

10.

Where an appellant has been granted permission to appeal s/he is entitled to be present on the hearing of the

appeal only. If the appellant is in custody and wishes to be present at any hearing for which permission to be present

is required s/he must apply for permission in writing.

11.

Where the Criminal Cases Review Commission refers a case to the Court, the Court must treat that reference as

the appeal notice if the appellant does not serve such a notice of appeal under rule 68.2 of the Criminal Procedure

Rules.

Update January 2012

The Criminal Procedure Rules and related forms are available on line at:

and

rules/criminal/forms/formspage.htm

Notice And Grounds Of Appeal Or Application For Permission To Appeal Against Conviction Or Sentence To The Court Of Appeal (Criminal Division) Page 7