R v Howe

Parliamentary Archives,
HL/PO/JU/18/247

Regina

v.

Clarkson (Appellant)
(On Appeal from the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division))

JUDGMENT

Die Jovis 19° Februarii 1987

Upon Report from the Appellate Committee to whom was
referred the Cause Regina against Clarkson, That the

Committee had heard Counsel on Monday the 17th, Tuesday the
18th, Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 20th days of
November 1986, upon the Petition and Appeal of William George
Clarkson, currently detained at Her Majesty's Prison,
Leicester Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, praying
that the matter of the Order set forth in the Schedule
thereto, namely an Order of Her Majesty's Court of Appeal
(Criminal Division) of 27th January 1986, might be reviewed
before Her Majesty the Queen in Her Court of Parliament and
that the said Order might be reversed, varied or altered or
that the Petitioner might have such other relief in the
premises as to Her Majesty the Queen in Her Court of
Parliament might seem meet; and Counsel having been heard on
behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions (on behalf of
Her Majesty), the respondent to the said appeal; and due
consideration had this day of what was offered on either side
in this Cause:

It is Ordered and Adjudged, by the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal in the Court of Parliament of Her Majesty the Queen
assembled, That the said Order of Her Majesty's Court of
Appeal (Criminal Division) of 27th January 1986 complained of
in the said Appeal be, and the same is hereby, Affirmed; That
the first Certified Question be answered in the negative; That
the second and third Certified Questions be answered in the
affirmative; and That the said Petition and Appeal be, and
the same is hereby, dismissed this House.

Cler: Parliamentor:

Judgment: 19.2.87

HOUSE OF LORDS

REGINA
v.

BURKE
(APPELLANT)

(ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL

DIVISION))

REGINA
v.

HOWE
(APPELLANT)

(ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL

DIVISION))

REGINA
v.

BANNISTER
(APPELLANT)

(ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL

DIVISION))

(CONJOINED APPEALS)

REGINA

v.

CLARKSON
(APPELLANT)

(ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL

DIVISION))

Lord Chancellor
Lord Bridge of Harwich
Lord Brandon of Oakbrook
Lord Griffiths
Lord Mackay of Clashfern

THE LORD HAILSHAM OF ST. MARYLEBONE

My Lords,

These appeals arise from two cases, one originating from a
trial in the Manchester Crown Court before Jupp J. and a jury,
(Howe and Bannister) and one in the Central Criminal Court before
the then Common Sergeant, Judge Tudor Price and a jury (Burke
and Clarkson).

- 1 -

Howe and Bannister were tried with two other defendants
(Murray and Bailey) both of whom during the trial changed their
plea to one of guilty and were appropriately sentenced.

The indictment in the case of Howe, Bannister, Murray and
Bailey accused the four men of two murders (Elgar and Pollitt)
and a conspiracy to murder (Redfern, an intended victim who
escaped in time). The three counts related to three successive
days, respectively 10, 11 and 12 October 1983.