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England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Emmanuel v South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust & Anor [2009] EWHC 3260 (Admin) (11 December 2009) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2009/3260.html Cite as: [2010] Med LR 32, [2009] EWHC 3260 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
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DR. EDWARD EMMANUEL |
Appellant |
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- and - |
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(1) SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE PRIMARY CARE TRUST (2) FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES APPEAL AUTHORITY |
Respondents |
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Ms N Khalique (instructed by Bevan Brittan LLP) for the Respondents
Hearing dates: 4 December 2009
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Crown Copyright ©
HHJ David Pearl :
i) The approach to the evidence of LJ, and in particular the fact that reliance was placed upon LJ's written and, on some issues, inconsistent evidence as set out in the interview notes in preference to the Appellant's oral evidence in circumstances where the main issues of fact were disputed;ii) The lack of disclosure of any handwritten notes of the telephone and face to face interviews;
iii) The length of the sitting day.
"merely because some factual matter is in dispute does not render hearsay evidence about it in principle inadmissible or prevent the Parole Board taking such evidence into account. It should normally be sufficient for the Board to bear in mind that that evidence is hearsay and to reflect that factor in the weight which is attached to it. However, like the judge below, I can envisage the possibility of circumstances where the evidence in question is so fundamental to the decision that fairness requires that the offender be given the opportunity to test it by cross-examination before it is taken into account at all. As so often, what is or is not fair will depend on the circumstances of the case."
"It is plainly necessary that a disciplinary hearing should be fair not least because of the potentially grave consequences of such proceedings for someone in the position of the Claimant. Fairness requires that there be a hearing at which an accused officer has the opportunity to question the witnesses against him where he disputes the factual allegations made by those witnesses."
"The panel would obviously be in a far better position to reach a fair judgment whether the complaints are true if they hear from the complainants and Dr S, and their stories are tested, than if the panel's evaluation of the witnesses' credibility is based on their untested statements and Dr R's opinion about their credibility."