TRIALS IN SECRET,WITNESSES NOT CALLED.

Dear Sir or Madam,I am not legally trained and certain aspects of
court cases causes me concern.In my local newspaper there was
reported a road accident in which
two people were killed.I looked out for subsequent reports to learn
more about what had happened but nothing was published in the
press.I know the names of the two people killed and I know that
someone was jailed for some offence.I asked the police for a FOI
disclosure but they totally refuse to disclose anything, not even
to confirm if anyone was prosecuted.The trial and inquest seem to
have been held in secret,and this seems contrary to transparent
Justice as full details of other prosecutions are often
published.Please advise on the public interest reasoning behind the
CPS arranging secret trials for motoring incidents and why it is in
the public interest to avoid disclosing anything.SECONDLY,I
recently attended court on an alleged speeding offence and I
requested a person to attend as a witness from the Central Ticket
Office.The availabilty of the witness was confirmed, but when I
went to court the trial proceeded WITHOUT my requested witness
being called by the CPS.In my humble opinion this appears to be
corruption,abuse of legal process and contempt of court and I
consider it to be in the public interest to be advised of the legal
grounds as how this can possibly be allowed.It does not seem
honest.I require explanation as to how the CPS can arrange secret
trials and not call witnesses,to restore faith in due
process.Please provide a reply to these two issues via this website
under normal FOI guidelines.

Yours faithfully,

Dennis Fallon

Dear Freedom of Information Unit,My FOI is to clarify how the C.P.S
conduct their court cases.My concern centres on the WEST MIDLANDS
C.P.S.I presume it is they who decide if trials should be held out
of the public view,and therefore under FOI I would like to see a
copy of any parts of the C.P.S guidelines which advises when trials
should be held in public or in secret,especially in regard to the
public interest aspect.I can appreciate secret trials being held
for terrorist cases but not for motoring offences.SECONDLY,under
the Human Rights Act people should be entitled to a fair trial, and
yet in my case the West Midlands C.P.S failed to call my requested
witness so I could not cross examine them.In my humble opinion this
appears to be contempt of court and abuse of due process.Under FOI
I would like to see an extract of any guidelines which advise when
called witnesses can be told not to attend.If no evidence can be
provided in either of these scenarios I may presume that my local
C.P.S are acting illegally, and I look forward to a disclosure that
will shed light on these matters.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

Dear Sir or Madam,
APPEAL REQUESTED TO A FOI RESPONSE

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.The information provided to my FOI is
unsatisfactory as it too general and does not cover the specifics
of my request.You confirm that the openness of Judicial Proceedings
is a fundamental right,but I am concerned that these Rights are
being denied in Birmingham Courts.Please FOCUS your response to
clarify how it should be acceptable to exclude the public from
knowing the details and result of a trial for any motoring accident
which possibly relate to a charge of dangerous driving,which is of
public interest.It seems to be an unacceptable state of secrecy
which your reply does not address or explain, and does require a
sensible explanation.SECONDLY,your reply regarding the
non-attendance of requested witnesses says this may be allowed if
no longer required by the prosecution BUT my query is how can it be
allowed when it has been confirmed as a REQUIREMENT of the DEFENCE
case.I did not agree to non-attendance,NO explanation was given,and
in my humble opinion it appears to be ABUSE OF DUE PROCESS and
CONTEMPT OF COURT.These are very serious allegations which bring
Justice into disrepute and are not addressed by the general reply.I
request a review into your reply which clarifies the aspects of law
which allow the CPS to withhold witnesses called by the defence,as
I am still shocked at the apparent abuse of the Rights of a
defendant,without any explanation.

I am writing to request an internal review of Crown Prosecution
Service's handling of my FOI request 'TRIALS IN SECRET,WITNESSES
NOT CALLED.'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/tr...

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

Dear Mr Willman,
Thank you for following up my complaint.The second issue,`witness
not called`,causes me most concern because it seems to have
deliberately occured on TWO seperate occasions.I initially went to
court,HAVING REQUESTED the witness to attend in order to cross
examine the validity of the evidence.I was prepared to pay for his
costs for attending.It is a fact that the CPS did not bother to
call him,and I thought the case should have been dropped for this
reason.Instead of this happening the witness was contacted BY
TELEPHONE and their availability was CONFIRMED for a future
date.The magistrates then rebooked a court hearing for the same
date.This caused me considerable inconvenience but I took more time
off work to attend.This second,and final,court hearing was a parody
of Justice in which the single District Judge not only accepted
uncorroborated `evidence` but also completed his verdict despite my
protests that my prearranged witness had not been called.Everyone I
have spoken to advise me that a trial should not have proceeded in
the absence of a called witness,especially without explanation,and
that is why I have concerns about`Birmingham Justice`diverging from
acceptable standards.I look forward to your enlightening respone in
due course.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

Dear Mr Willman,Your response was unsatisfactory, perhaps due to
confusion as to my requirements.Under Article 6 of Human Rights
legislation 1988 I am entitled to a fair trial.It is also necessary
under the code for Crown Prosecutors to keep a copy of the
reasoning behind decisions to prosecute,in case of subsequent
dispute.Similarly,where information that should be given, is not in
fact given by a public authority, this could amount to a breach of
the guarantee to receive information under Article 10,and therefore
under FOI I would like to see,as pdf documents,a copy of the legal
records,which should be exist but were NOT disclosed to me or the
judge,which relate to my request to call the manager of the Central
Ticket Office as a witness.There should be several documents on
file as the witness was NOT called at the original nor the final
hearing.In the context of disclosure this means ensuring that the
accused is in a position to prepare for and defend the charges
brought by the prosecution. It is clear from the Strasbourg
jurisprudence that prosecutors are under a positive duty to place
the defence in a position of parity. Non disclosure of evidence
relevant to credibility may also raise an issue under Article
6(3)(d): Edwards v. UK, 15 EHRR 417, Op. Comm., para. 50. See,
generally, Jespers v. Belgium, 27 DR 61. (Archbold, 16-84).I hope
this clarification explains the HRA requirement to provide copies
of the DOCUMENTATION that surrounds both the decision to
prosecute,and secondly the decision(taken on TWO separate
occasions)NOT to call the requested witness.All this documentation
should be available, and in the interests of Justice and supporting
a fair trial I should be entitled,under FOI,to SEE a hard copy of
the prosecution case records.I hope this has clarified my
requirements.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

Dear Sir or Madam,Please confirm the status of this FOI.If it is
still considered closed,despite my clarification that hard copy of
prosecution records are actually required to fulfill
disclosure,then I shall have to start a fresh FOI which seems an
unreasonable line of action.Please advise the status within 24
hours,or by default I shall presume you are being unreasonable.

Yours faithfully,

dennis fallon

Dear Mr Willman,Thank you for your directions on this matter.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon