Criminal Justice Act 2003

33Defence disclosureE+W+N.I.

(1)In section 5 of the 1996 Act (compulsory disclosure by accused), after subsection (5) there is inserted—

“(5A)Where there are other accused in the proceedings and the court so orders, the accused must also give a defence statement to each other accused specified by the court.

(5B)The court may make an order under subsection (5A) either of its own motion or on the application of any party.

(5C)A defence statement that has to be given to the court and the prosecutor (under subsection (5)) must be given during the period which, by virtue of section 12, is the relevant period for this section.

(5D)A defence statement that has to be given to a co-accused (under subsection (5A)) must be given within such period as the court may specify.”

(2)After section 6 of that Act there is inserted—

“6AContents of defence statement

(1)For the purposes of this Part a defence statement is a written statement—

(a)setting out the nature of the accused’s defence, including any particular defences on which he intends to rely,

(b)indicating the matters of fact on which he takes issue with the prosecution,

(c)setting out, in the case of each such matter, why he takes issue with the prosecution, and

(d)indicating any point of law (including any point as to the admissibility of evidence or an abuse of process) which he wishes to take, and any authority on which he intends to rely for that purpose.

(2)A defence statement that discloses an alibi must give particulars of it, including—

(a)the name, address and date of birth of any witness the accused believes is able to give evidence in support of the alibi, or as many of those details as are known to the accused when the statement is given;

(b)any information in the accused’s possession which might be of material assistance in identifying or finding any such witness in whose case any of the details mentioned in paragraph (a) are not known to the accused when the statement is given.

(3)For the purposes of this section evidence in support of an alibi is evidence tending to show that by reason of the presence of the accused at a particular place or in a particular area at a particular time he was not, or was unlikely to have been, at the place where the offence is alleged to have been committed at the time of its alleged commission.

(4)The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision as to the details of the matters that, by virtue of subsection (1), are to be included in defence statements.”

(3)After section 6A of that Act (inserted by subsection (2) above) there is inserted—

“6BUpdated disclosure by accused

(1)Where the accused has, before the beginning of the relevant period for this section, given a defence statement under section 5 or 6, he must during that period give to the court and the prosecutor either—

(a)a defence statement under this section (an “updated defence statement”), or

(b)a statement of the kind mentioned in subsection (4).

(2)The relevant period for this section is determined under section 12.

(3)An updated defence statement must comply with the requirements imposed by or under section 6A by reference to the state of affairs at the time when the statement is given.

(4)Instead of an updated defence statement, the accused may give a written statement stating that he has no changes to make to the defence statement which was given under section 5 or 6.

(5)Where there are other accused in the proceedings and the court so orders, the accused must also give either an updated defence statement or a statement of the kind mentioned in subsection (4), within such period as may be specified by the court, to each other accused so specified.

(6)The court may make an order under subsection (5) either of its own motion or on the application of any party.”