Additional guidance in the Attorney General’s Guidelines

Disclosure of unused material for investigations commenced before 4 April 2005

The AG’s Guidelines can be found at AG’s Guidelines and make it clear that the regime set out in the CPIA 1996 as updated by the CJA 2003 must be scrupulously followed^[1] and Officers appointed as disclosure officers must have the requisite experience, skills, competence and resources to undertake their vital role^[2]
The Guidelines contain guidance on a number of issues that are not directly dealt with in the CPIA or the Home Office Code .

In addition to complying with the obligations under the CPIA, the prosecutor should provide the defence with all the evidence which the prosecution propose to rely on in a magistrates’ court trial, in sufficient time to allow the defence to properly consider it before the trial.
Statements may only be withheld to protect witnesses or to avoid interference with the interests of justice. This means if advance information has been provided in summary form it will be necessary to let the defence have a copy of the statements that are the basis of the prosecution case.

In all cases the prosecutor must consider disclosing material which is relevant to sentencing, for example information which might mitigate the seriousness of the offence or assist the accused to lay blame in whole or in part upon a co-accused or another person.
The interests of justice will also mean that material should continue to be considered post conviction. Any material which might cast doubt on the safety of a conviction should be brought to the attention of the prosecutor immediately.
The preparation of a Friskies schedule will assist in highlighting such material. However it may still be necessary to disclose more detailed material held by the prosecution that mitigates the seriousness of the offence or the accused’s role in the offence.