R v Wiggins (No 5)

The matter before the court was an application by Wiggins, the accused, to permanently stay the proceedings against him. Wiggins was facing trial for the serious offences of murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. The case had a protracted history, and this was to be his fourth trial. The court was asked to consider whether the proceedings should be permanently stayed due to the alleged unfairness of the Crown's "opportunistic" addition of new evidence, which Wiggins claimed "patched up" their case. This application for an exceptional remedy required Wiggins to demonstrate a fundamental defect in the proceedings.

The legal issues the court had to address included the appropriate standard of unfairness necessary to warrant a permanent stay, the extent of the prosecution's duty of disclosure, and whether the introduction of new evidence amounted to an abuse of process. The court also had to consider whether the delay and previous trials had prejudiced the accused to the point where a fair trial was no longer possible.

The court found that the accused had not demonstrated a fundamental defect in the proceedings that would justify a permanent stay. The court held that the standard of unfairness required to justify such a remedy was high and had not been met in this case. The court also found that the prosecution had not abused the process by introducing new evidence, as the evidence was not new but had been available all along and had not been deliberately withheld. The court further held that while there had been a significant delay, it had not prejudiced the accused to the extent that a fair trial was no longer possible. The application for a permanent stay was therefore refused.

No orders were made as the application for a permanent stay was refused.