Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

6.2.38 As noted above, section 78 of PACE gives the court a general power to refuseto admit evidence if it appears to the court that “the admission of the evidencewould have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that thecourt ought not to admit it”. That would, no doubt, be in accordance withScots law on the admission of confessions and probably on evidence generally.In R v Farrell Buxton LJ said 45 :“…First of all, it is a matter of judgment as to what should bedisclosed 46 and what should not; and secondly, we are not prepared toaccept that it is necessarily wrong or misleading for the police to holdback some part of their case before they interview a suspect. Taken toits logical conclusion, the suggestion … that everything the policeknow has to be disclosed would, in our view, threaten seriously tohandicap legitimate police enquiries. …Although he does not expressly say so, the [trial] judge made adistinction between active lying intending to induce a confession onthe one hand, which was what happened in Mason 47 , and omission orfailure to state the whole case in advance, which is what happened inthis case. Although we would not wish to lay down any binding rule,that seems to us to be a useful guide”.6.2.39 In Ward v Police Service of Northern Ireland Lord Bingham said 48 :“…there is no rule of law which requires the police to reveal to asuspect the questions that they wish to put to him when he is beinginterviewed. Nor are they required to reveal in advance the topics thatthey wish to cover, even in the most general terms, in the course of aninterview. In some cases providing these details in advance will notprejudice their inquiries. But in others it may well do so. This is ajudgment that must be left to the police. The interview must beconducted fairly. But advance notice of the topics to be covered is nota prerequisite of fairness.”.6.2.40 The Review understands that the position is similar in Ireland.45 [2004] EWCA Crim 597 at paras 22 and 2446 as it is known in England, Wales and Northern Ireland47 [1988] 1 WLR 139, where the police deliberately misled the suspect on fingerprint evidence48 [2007] 1WLR 3013 at para 22188