Pollock v The Queen

Pollock appealed his conviction for armed robbery to the High Court of Australia. The appeal concerned the admissibility of evidence obtained from a search of the appellant's property.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the search warrant, which authorised the search of the appellant's property, was validly issued. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the information provided to the issuing officer established reasonable grounds to believe that evidence of the offence of armed robbery would be found at the premises to be searched, as required by the relevant legislation.

The High Court considered the nature of the information presented to the issuing officer and the standard of proof required for the issuance of a search warrant. Their Honours applied the principles of statutory interpretation to the relevant provisions of the *Crimes Act 1914* (Cth) and relevant case law concerning the sufficiency of information to establish reasonable grounds. The Court found that the information before the issuing officer was insufficient to establish reasonable grounds for believing that evidence of the offence would be found at the appellant's property.

The appeal was allowed, the conviction was quashed, and the matter was remitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales for a retrial.