Peter Wilcock KC and Catherine Oborne of the Garden Court Chambers Crime Team acted in the case of R v Layden, heard in The Supreme Court last week.
In October 2023, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of Stuart Layden for murder. Mr Layden was convicted of murder on 11 April 2013.
In 2015, the Court of Appeal quashed that conviction and ordered a retrial. The Court of Appeal ordered that Mr Layden should be arraigned on a fresh indictment within two months. Mr Layden was never arraigned on the fresh indictment.
Mr Layden was convicted of murder again at the retrial on 17 May 2016. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of eight years and 359 days.
It subsequently came to light that Mr Layden had never been arraigned at the retrial, in contravention of the Court’s mandatory order.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred Mr Layden’s case back to the Court of Appeal on the basis that there was a real possibility that his conviction would be quashed.
The Court of Appeal considered Mr Layden’s case. The Lady Chief Justice presided over the hearing. The Court’s judgment considered the implication of s.7 and s.8 Criminal Appeal Act 1968 and the impact of the judgment of Llewellyn [2023] 2 WLR 121.
The Court concluded that, because Mr Layden had not been arraigned within the two month time limit and no application had been made to the Court of Appeal for leave to arraign out of time, the mandatory provisions of s.7 and 8 Criminal Appeal Act 1968 meant that the Crown Court had acted without jurisdiction in re-trying him and, as a result, the conviction had to be quashed.
The Court of Appeal certified a point of law of public importance in relation to the case.
The Supreme Court granted The Crown permission to appeal. It was that appeal which was heard last week. The case involved complex legal issues of the history and purpose of criminal appeals in England and Wales, statutory interpretation as well as the impact of non compliance with a mandatory order of the Court of Appeal.
Judgment from the Supreme Court is awaited.
See press coverage: BBC News, ITV News
Watch Peter and Catherine’s submissions on 4 March 2025 at The Supreme Court here.
See full judgment of the Court of Appeal: Layden, R. v [2023] EWCA Crim 1207
