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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Sneyd v Director of Public Prosecutions [2006] EWHC 560 (Admin) (24 February 2006) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2006/560.html Cite as: [2006] EWHC 560 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Strand London WC2 |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE DAVID CLARKE
____________________
SNEYD | (APPLICANT) | |
-v- | ||
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS | (RESPONDENT) |
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Smith Bernal Wordwave Limited
190 Fleet Street London EC4A 2AG
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 7831 8838
(Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
MR HOWARD appeared on behalf of the RESPONDENT
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Crown Copyright ©
"(a) That at approximately 23.51 hours on 3rd February 2004, PC Rowland saw two vehicles, one of which was the appellant's Jaguar, leaving the car park of the public house known as the Hare and Hounds. He decided to stop both vehicles and did in fact do so in Broad Road. At this point PC Rowland asked the appellant whether he had been drinking.
"(b) Following the appellant's answer PC Rowland carried out a roadside breath test. This proved positive and the appellant was arrested, cautioned and then conveyed to the police station.
"(c) PC Fraser carried out the Intoximeter procedure at the police station in accordance with the form MGDDA. PC Rowland was also present throughout. PC Fraser asked the appellant set questions. His replies were noted on the form MGDDA by PC Rowland. The machine had been checked and no problems were present. PC Fraser explained the procedure for providing the specimens and the appellant duly provided two specimens of breath. The machine provided a computer print-out showing two readings, the lower of which was 52 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath. PC Fraser told the appellant he was therefore over the prescribed limit."
"PC Rowland gave evidence as follows: He stopped the appellant's vehicle on the night of 2nd February 2004 on Broad Road, Braintree, after he had seen him leaving the car park of the Hare and Hounds public house. He did so because he suspected the appellant, who was the driver of the vehicle, had been drinking and wanted confirmation.
"The appellant was asked whether he had been drinking. His response was that he had consumed 3 pints.
"The officer explained that as a result he required a specimen for analysis and warned the appellant that failure to provide would make him liable for arrest. The appellant provided a roadside breath specimen, which showed as a failure. He was then arrested, cautioned and conveyed to the police station at Braintree.
"The appellant asked the officer, 'What happens now?' and was advised that he would be required to produce two specimens of breath at the police station for evidential purposes. The appellant was booked in at the police station. PC Rowland was present throughout when the device was operated by PC Fraser.
"In cross-examination PC Rowland stated that he decided to stop the appellant's vehicle as he suspected the appellant had been drinking and wanted confirmation. He confirmed that the appellant cooperated throughout the process.
"The officer confirmed he could smell intoxicating liquor when he was at the rear of the vehicle on the way to the police station."
"PC Fraser gave evidence as follows:
The Intoximeter procedure, which measures the amount of alcohol in breath was carried out at the police station. He took the appellant through the procedure using form MGDDA asking each of the set questions. PC Rowland recorded the answers on the form.
"The appellant's eyes were glazed and his speech was slurred.
"He checked the Intoximeter machine to make sure it was working correctly. The machine indicates when it is ready and signals if there are any errors. He typed the appellant's details into the machine. The procedure was commenced and the machine automatically purged itself. This was followed by taking a sample from the air in the room to provide a standard to compare to the appellant's breath.
"The appellant provided a specimen of breath, stopping as required when the machine signalled by 'bleeping', indicating a satisfactory specimen had been provided.
"The machine purged itself again in preparation for a second sample of breath to be taken. It again indicated when it was ready. The appellant once again provided a satisfactory sample of breath. The machine provided a computer print-out showing two readings. The lower of these was 52 microgrammes. The appellant was told that he was over the prescribed limit.
"When cross-examined, the officer confirmed that until he saw the print-out he was unable to tell the result of the breath test. He confirmed PC Rowland went from the MGDDA booklet whilst he was in the room operating the machine. He confirmed he was present throughout whilst the process of questions and answers were carried out.
"The appellant did not give evidence."
"... the rights of the public to be protected from drink-drivers and the purpose of the legislation pertaining to this case."
"(a) Were we right in law to hold that there had been no breach of Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice?
"(b) Were we right to determine that there was admissible evidence on which we could conclude the proportion of alcohol in the appellant's breath is 52 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath and exceeded the prescribed limit?
"(c) Did we err in law in rejecting the appellant's contention that they were not entitled to convict because there was no evidence of calibration of the Intoximeter machine?
"(d) Were we entitled to take into account the purpose of the drink-drive legislation when considering the evidence and the conduct of the appellant's cross-examination of the witnesses during the trial?"
Question (a), breach of Code C.
"Where a constable in uniform has reasonable cause to suspect (a) that a person driving a motor vehicle on a road or other public place has alcohol in his body he may, subject to section 9 of this Act require him to produce a specimen of breath for a breath test."
Questions (b) and (c).
"It was clearly the intention of the legislature, in enacting subsection (5), that the defendant should be provided in advance of the hearing with the information recorded on the automatically produced statement. This information includes not only the results of the measurement effected by the instrument of the two specimens of breath -- results of which the defendant might otherwise have only an imperfect recollection -- but also, and of even greater importance, the results of the self-calibrating exercise which the instrument carries out both before and after the two specimens of breath are provided. If the measurement produced by the instrument is to be relied on by the prosecution, it is clearly vital for the prosecution to establish that the instrument was properly calibrated.
"The case stated is silent as to whether, as a matter of fact, copies of the Intoximeter statement or print-out and supporting certificate were handed to or served upon the defendant as required by subsection (5). The prosecution, as we have said, simply elected not to rely upon the statement. By so doing, in our judgment, the prosecution failed to establish matters vital to the establishment of the defendant's guilt. We would not regard the evidence of the police sergeant as inadmissible under the hearsay rule: it was direct evidence of what he had seen recorded on the instrument. The ground upon which we would uphold the decision of the justices is that the oral evidence of the police sergeant did not, and could not, come up to the standard of proof required by the legislation."
"... it had to be accompanied by evidence of the calibration of the machine, both before and after the specimen of breath had been provided by the defendant and of the date and time when the test was taken. The witness also had to be in a position to inform the justices that the figures for calibration which he saw, if he did, on the display panel were within permissible limits and that therefore the device was functioning properly.
"A police officer is not in a position to give this evidence unless he is one who has been trained upon the use of this device and its manner of performance. Put another way, he has to be one who understands the calibration process and recognises that unless the result of the process lies with accepted limits the machine is not calibrating as it should and is therefore unreliable.
"For my part I would accept that as clearly sufficient evidence, albeit perhaps in shorthand, that he had considered the calibration readings amongst others, and was telling the court that the machine was reliable and was working properly and he went on to give the actual reading of 51 microgrammes. The time for the defence to challenge that aspect of the case, that is, the reliability of the machine, if they had any basis at all for doing so, was then. They did not do so and that evidence went unchallenged."
"It seems that the position is clear. Section 16 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 enables, and it is a permissive section, the prosecution to rely on the documents produced by the machine provided they do so in the prescribed fashion. But it is clear that the prosecution may also rely on the direct evidence of the officer who administered the breath test at the police station to give the reading based on his observation of the figures on the machine. If he is going to do that, he must give evidence that the machine was working properly and appeared to be reliable at the time. That is a matter of basic common sense which the courts have underlined.
"The question for us is whether there was sufficient evidence in this case that that occurred. In my judgment there clearly is. That is to be found in the finding at paragraph 3 of the case ..."
"We have been referred to three cases where this court has said that, if a police officer gives oral evidence of the result of a Lion Intoximeter test but does not identify the print-out and produce it to the court, he must give evidence of the calibration of the machine both before and after the test was taken. Those cases are Owen v Chesters, Morgan v Lee and Denneny v Harding. In my judgment it does not follow that the officer must in terms give evidence of what the actual calibration results were. Here the officer's evidence-in-chief is summarised in paragraph 3 of the case as follows: 'He stated that at the time of the test all of the readings showed the machine was working properly.' That is no doubt a summary. We do not know the actual words used by the officer giving evidence, but we must accept it as an accurate and comprehensive summary. If the defence wanted to test that evidence, they should have explored the point in cross-examination. It would seem that, if the defence had done so, the sergeant could have given some answers. He had the print-out with him, but no questions were asked. In my judgment on the sergeant's evidence here there was a case to answer and the justices were entitled to find the offence proved.
"It was argued by Mr Sapsard in reply that the sergeant's evidence was defective in another respect in that it did not disclose his experience of using the Lion Intoximeter and his knowledge of its operation. There is, however, nothing whatever in the case to show that this point was taken in the Magistrates' Court. It does not feature in the question which the justices stated for the opinion of the court. We have no idea whether the sergeant gave any evidence on that topic or, if he did, what his evidence amounted to. It is too late to take that point now."
Question (d).