Placing the Onus Back on the Trial

Extract

Given the importance of the case, it is unsurprising that the House of Lords should reach so rapid a decision in R. v. Director of Public Prosecutions, ex p. Kebilene [1999] 3 W.L.R. 972 (on appeal from the Divisional Court, noted at (1999) 58 C.L.J. 468). It will remembered that the Divisional Court granted a declaration that the D.P.P.'s decision to continue his consent to prosecutions under the reverse onus provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1988 (P.T.A.) was unlawful. According to the lower court, these provisions were in irreconcilable conflict with Article 6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights which provides that: “Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law”.