---

Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard) and the hon. and learned Member for Medway (Mr. Marshall-Andrews). We have heard several good speeches today, which have been interesting and informative. Since the Bill became common knowledge a few days ago, we have all rather been rushing into it. Like the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe, I feel a little uncomfortable with the time given to ensure that we get a proper Bill. I would also say that the Secretary of State for Justice has a difficult job in front of him, with little time to spare. I accept that point. However, the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) said that he saw this Bill as having been improved in the past few days. If we had a few more days, no doubt it would be greatly improved; it would be a wonderful Bill in about four or five weeks' time. Let us not run away with that idea, however. Although we sometimes get legislation wrong when we rush it through, we took four years on the Hunting Bill and still got it wrong—it is now an unenforceable Act—so we do not always get it right when we take a long time, either. I agree broadly that we need some form of statutory footing for anonymity. There is no question about that. The Davis judgment has brought matters to a head, and they had been simmering for some time. As the hon. and learned Member for Medway said, there has been widespread misuse of special measures. In any preliminary hearing, in any Crown court, on any day of the week, the judge will turn to counsel and say, ““Any special measures required in this case?”” Whether it is a relatively minor case in the Crown court or a serious one, that is a regular occurrence. People are asked whether they want special measures. They might think, in passing, ““Yes, I'll have some special measures”” and get up and ask for them—and more often than not, they will be granted. I am afraid that the practice is falling into misuse. Things have reached the stage where something has to be done. Coming to the Davis judgment and where we are now with the Bill, I hope that all those issues can be brought into sharp focus and that we can look again into what special measures are for. They are measures for special occurrences to be used just as I hope the Bill will be used—infrequently. Mr. Bob Jones of the Association of Chief Police Officers says that such occurrences will be very rare. However, the same ACPO presides over a situation in which applications for anonymity are made in 500 to 600 cases a year. They include huge drugs cases, murder cases and so on, and I fully understand all that, but I am sure that in many cases such applications are not necessary. If the Bill is properly implemented, as I hope it will be, it should limit the number of anonymity applications to cases in which they are strictly necessary, to ensure that the interests of justice are met. What the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg) said about special counsel is quite right, and his suggestion was very useful. He referred to ““Archbold””, showing immense recollection of the exact provision; he has been there many times in practice, and he assisted us today. What he said is important. If we are to make the Bill work, special counsel should be a core consideration. That will undoubtedly assist the judge and the interests of justice; indeed, it will assist everybody. I hope that the right hon. and learned Gentleman's suggestion, which he advanced very well, will be taken seriously by the Government, although I do not know whether amendments could be introduced in the other place. Useful reference has been made to New Zealand's Evidence Act 2006. The criteria that the court must have regard to in making an anonymity order under that legislation are as follows. First, witness anonymity orders are justified only in exceptional circumstances. Secondly, the gravity of the offence must be taken into account. The third criterion—this is interesting; I wonder why there is no reference to this in the Bill—is whether there is other evidence that corroborates the witness's evidence. That is a consideration; it is not necessarily a veto on making the order, but it is an important factor to consider. The judge must have regard to that consideration under the New Zealand Act in making an anonymity order or not doing so. In the few minutes left, let me say how grateful I am that the Government have accepted a sunset clause. I hope that we will have some further information about the numbers of applications at that later stage, since the CPS is now keeping a record of all applications made, those granted, those refused and the reasons why, and so on, as the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) helpfully told us. That information will undoubtedly inform the debate when the matter next comes before the House. Finally, the amendments that the hon. Member for Cambridge has tabled to clause 3(2) are sensible. In effect, clause 3(2) says that if a defendant wants anonymity for a witness, they have to give full details to the prosecution. Why should the prosecution not do the same for the defence? [Interruption.] The Secretary of State for Justice shakes his head; no doubt he will address that point in due course. If we are serious about the scales of justice and so on, there is an important principle at stake: the equality of arms principle. For example, what if the name of the person is leaked by a police source? I am not impugning the police; my brother is a serving officer, as was my father. I am not anti-police in any way, but there are bad apples in every barrel. We have seen several police leaks recently that have caused mayhem here and there. I am concerned that a defendant has to give full details, which could end up anywhere, whereas the prosecution does not. [Interruption.] The Secretary of State will no doubt address that point, so I will not dwell on it. In broad terms, the Bill is necessary, but there are improvements that we need to make—and, given more time, I am sure that we would make even more. At the end of the day, as we are on a tight schedule, I hope that we do not create a situation of injustice. That is the last thing that anybody in the Chamber would want. I hope that those in the other place will have slightly more time to reflect on the Bill and that we will be able to introduce some necessary amendments.