CASE SUMMARIES v 5 May 1997

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Extradition

Re Chetta; QBD Div Ct (Pill LJ, Astill J) 30 April 1997.

A person seeking to apply under s 16 of the Extradition Act 1989 was not required to give notice to the Home Secretary of his intention prior to the expiry of the one month period from the date that the s 12 warrant had been issued. It was not open to applicants to dress up the statutory claim under s 16 as an application for a writ of habeas corpus in order to improve their procedural position. Section 16 merely conferred the detainee with a right to apply to the court, and did not constitute a challenge to the lawfulness of the decision.

The applicants in person; Rabinder Singh (Treasury Solicitor) for the Home Secretary; Julian Knowles (CPS) for the Government of Canada.

Evidence

R v Waters; CA Cr Div (Kennedy LJ, Harrison J, Nelson J) 18 February 1997.

Where a witness started to give relevant evidence but was then unable to continue apparently through fear, the trial judge was correct in admitting in evidence the witness's earlier statement pursuant to s 23(1) and (3)(b) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, because such further relevant evidence, which the witness was expected to, but did not, give came within the provisions of s 23.

Timothy Parkin (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the appellant; Paul Batty QC (who did not appear at the trial), Beatrice Bolton, (CPS) for the Crown.

Tax

R v Inland Revenue Commrs, ex parte Ulster Bank Ltd; CA (Simon Brown LJ, Morritt LJ, Sir Brian Neill) 1 May 1997.

The Revenue might require production of categories of documents as well as particular documents in a notice pursuant to s 20 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 issued to a bank in connection with investigations into the tax affairs its customers. Further, it would be premature for the court to review a "precursor" notice to the effect that the inspector intended to seek the consent of a special commissioner under s 20(7) to serve such a notice. A challenge could be mounted only if and when consent had been given by a special commissioner, and a notice had been issued.

David Goldberg QC and George Leggatt QC (Travers Smith Braithwaite) for the bank; Timothy Brennan (Inland Revenue Solicitor).