If there was clear evidence that a police officer, whose credit and credibility were significant in the case before the jury, had been guilty of serious malpractice on an earlier occasion, that necessarily damaged his credibility when it fell to be judged on the second occasion, even though the malpractice alleged on the second occasion was of a different kind. However, it was necessary to consider how significant in the case the evidence of the police officer was and what past misconduct he was shown to have committed.

CA (Crim Div) (Lord Bingham of Cornhill LCJ, Scott Baker J, Curtis J)

04/10/1999