A murder conviction has been quashed for the second time due to an ‘entirely avoidable’ procedural error which Court of Appeal judges determined made the conviction unsafe.

Stuart Layden was convicted in 2016 of murder after a second retrial following the earlier quashing by the Court of Appeal of his conviction. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of eight years and 359 days.

He appealed the second conviction and the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial. Layden was not arraigned on a fresh indictment within two months of the retrial order and no extension of time was sought.

In Stuart Layden v R, the lady chief justice and two other judges found, as a result, the Crown court did not have jurisdiction to retry Layden for murder.

The 11-page judgment said the ‘situation was entirely avoidable’. It warned judges and practitioners involved in retrials and following CoA orders to ‘be in no doubt as to the importance of strict compliance’ with procedural requirements.

It acknowledged the statutory purpose of s.7 and 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 is to ‘ensure that retrial takes place as soon as possible’. It added: ‘The purpose is intended to be achieved by a focus on arraignment. Once arraignment has taken place the case will be back under judicial control and the matter can be left to the judge to ensure that the retrial occurs at the earliest practical opportunity.

‘Parliament can fairly be taken to have intended “total invalidity” in the event of a failure to arraign a defendant within the two-month period stipulated in s. 8 (or such longer period as the Court of Appeal may have allowed).’

Lady chief justice Sue Carr, sitting with Mr Justice Jeremy Baker and Mrs Justice Heather Williams, said: ‘His conviction for murder is unsafe and must be quashed. The appeal will be allowed. We recognise that this is to permit the appellant’s conviction for a most serious offence to be set aside for procedural error in circumstances where the conviction was otherwise sound, and in circumstances where no prejudice arose out of the failure in question.

‘However, the legislation is unambiguous. The situation was entirely avoidable.

‘There was ample opportunity for the appellant to be rearraigned at or before the PCMH and in any event within the relevant two-month period. Judges and practitioners involved in retrials following orders of the Court of Appeal under ss. 7 and 8 should be in no doubt as to the importance of strict compliance with what are clear procedural requirements.’

The timeline:

  • April 2013: Layden first sentenced after being convicted of murder
  • 19 March 2015: CoA allows appeal against conviction and directed Layden be arraigned on a fresh indictment within two months
  • 14 October 2015: Jury discharged in first retrial due to issues surrounding disclosure of unused material
  • 17 May 2016: Second retrial concludes with Layden convicted of murder
  • 25 October 2023: CoA rules second conviction unsafe

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