MCN right over loophole

The Association of Chief Police Officers has backtracked over accusations that MCN misled the public with a story on Gatso evidence in our issue dated March 1.

In the March 1 issue we report that photo or film evidence is required by law to always be submitted to defendants at least seven days before a trial and that, because camera partnerships fail to meet the requirement, nearly all speeding prosecutions are based on inadmissible evidence.

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Our story was supported by admissions from London, Thames Valley and Mid and South Wales camera partnerships that evidence is not automatically submitted to Defendants before a trial, and by comments from top celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman. ACPO responded this morning with a press statement claiming: “It is unfortunate that this article may well mislead the public in believing that police forces are not complying with the advanced disclosure of evidence as laid down in the Act.”

ACPO spokespeople described out story is “incorrect” click here

But Ian Bell, ACPO’s safety camera partnership co-ordinator, later said: “I’m not saying you’ve misled the public. What I’m saying is that someone reading the article may be under the impression that the police are not conforming with the Criminal Procedures Act.”

Asked if he thought MCN’s story was wrong, he added: “I’m not saying that at all.”

He offered to remove the word ‘mislead’ from the statement.

Bell admitted MCN’s story was accurate with regard to the law, saying: “The evidence has to be sent at least seven days before the date that the trial is set… The rules that are laid down are quite explicit.”

Bell claimed that, contrary to the admissions made by safety camera partnerships to MCN last week, evidence is in fact submitted to Defendants in accordance with the law. He added: “They have probably tried their best to answer the questions that you’ve laid to them… They could well have got it wrong.”

One partnership also contacted MCN to retract its previous statement. Dan Campsall, communications manager for Thames Valley, said: “It may well be that I have misunderstood.”

MCN reader Bryn Carlyon, who Mid and South Wales camera partnership attempted to prosecute in December, confirmed the partnership failed to meet the requirements. He said: “They didn’t provide the pictures until the trial.”

The case against Carlyon was dropped after MCN used the pictures to prove he wasn’t really speeding.