The Court of Appeal expressed the view that prison officers did not fall directly within the requirements of s.67(9) Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and therefore the Codes of Practice were not directly applicable to them. However, where a prisoner had been invited to complete a written form giving his account of an incident and no warning was given that that account could be used against him as a confession in either disciplinary or criminal proceedings, then there was a potential argument that any confession should be excluded under s.78 of the 1984 Act, irrespective of whether it was positively induced by any other statement likely to render it unreliable.

CA (Crim Div) (Mance LJ, Douglas Brown J, Sachs J)

16/03/2000