This article concerns
appeals against decisions of the
Crown Court of
England and Wales. The majority of appeals against Crown Court decisions are heard by the Criminal Division of the
Court of Appeal.
Jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal and divisional courts
The Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to hear the following appeals:
Appeals against conviction on indictment may only be made with a certificate of the trial judge or leave of the Court of Appeal. An application for leave must be submitted with written reasons within 28 days of conviction. If leave is refused by a single judge on the papers, the applicant has a right to have the matter determined by a two-judge or full court.[1] An applicant may normally only appeal once against conviction, even if new evidence has arisen.[2]
The Court of Appeal will quash the conviction if it was unsafe.[3]
A conviction may be unsafe despite the applicant having pleaded guilty where:
the plea was equivocal or mistaken or;
the effect of an incorrect ruling of law on admitted facts was to leave an accused with no legal escape from a verdict of guilty on those facts.[4] However, But a conviction would not normally be unsafe where an accused is influenced to change his plea to guilty because he recognizes that, as a result of a ruling to admit strong evidence against him, his case on the facts is hopeless.[4]
A conviction may be unsafe even if the appellant admitted his guilt at trial if an application that there was
no case to answer was wrongly refused. A conviction obtained on this basis is an abuse of process.[5]
Following a successful appeal, the appellant must be acquitted.[3] The Court of Appeal may order a retrial where the interests of justice so require.[6] The appellant may only be retried for an offence of which he could have been convicted in the original trial.[6] The defendant must be
arraigned within two months unless the Court of Appeal orders otherwise.[7]
The Court of Appeal may substitute for the verdict found by the jury a verdict of guilty of another offence, if the jury could have found him guilty of that offence and it appears to the Court of Appeal that the jury must have been satisfied of facts which proved him guilty of the other offence.[8]
Where the Court of Appeal substitutes a conviction for another offence or quashes some of the convictions but not others, the Court of Appeal may sentence the offender.[9]
Appeals against sentence following conviction on
indictment
A person convicted in the Crown Court may only appeal against sentence with a certificate of the trial judge or leave of the Court of Appeal.[10] For this purpose, sentence includes any order made by a court when dealing with the offender.[11]
The Court of Appeal may quash any sentence which is the subject of the appeal and in place of it pass such sentence as they think is appropriate, so long as taking the case as a whole, the appellant is not dealt with more severely by the Court of Appeal than by the Crown Court.[12]
Appeals against findings of unfitness to plead[13]
Appeals against verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity[14]
extending the time period for making an application for leave to appeal;
directing that an appellant in custody may be present at the proceedings (where he does not automatically have that right);
ordering a witness to attend for examination;
granting, revoking or varying the conditions of an appellant's bail;
ordering that the time in which the appellant was in custody pending appeal should not count towards the satisfaction of his sentence (on the ground that the appeal was frivolous or vexatious, meaning there was no realistic prospect of success;[23]
directing that evidence should be received;
directing that documentary or real evidence should be produced or that a witness should be examined;
directing that the victim of a sexual offence should not be anonymous;
ordering the payment of costs;
giving leave for any person to be present at an appeal; and
suspending a person's driving disqualification.[24]