P. Mickelberg v The Queen; R. Mickelberg v The Queen

These proceedings concern applications for special leave to appeal by Peter Mickelberg and R. Mickelberg against the Queen. The applications arise from criminal convictions. The transcript details submissions made by Mr. McKechnie QC, appearing for the applicants, concerning the conduct of a police artist and the evidence presented in the trial.

The central legal issues revolve around the alleged fabrication of evidence by the police artist. Specifically, the court was required to consider whether the artist had used photographs to trace sketches, whether the artist had fabricated evidence by using a pen rephotofit without comparing it to the final sketch, and whether the Crown had presented evidence to support allegations of fabrication, including the tendering of a photograph of Gregory David Purcell. The applicants sought to demonstrate that the police artist's methods were suspect, inferring that this cast doubt on the entire police case, including fingerprint evidence.

Mr. McKechnie argued that the police artist's failure to compare the rephotofit sketch with the final sketch, as conceded under cross-examination, highlighted the applicant's efforts to prove fabrication. He further contended that the artist's practice of using photographs to trace sketches was denied, and that the introduction of a photograph of Gregory David Purcell, a known police associate, was intended to support the allegation of fabrication, despite the actual offender not being apprehended. The submissions also touched upon the artist's practice of using rephotofits and mug shots in constructing sketches, and the alleged manipulation of a photograph of the sketch and another photograph, possibly of Purcell, by blowing them up.