![202302376 B1 - [2025] EWCA Crim 1036](https://backend.juristeca.com/files/emisores/logo_sHeHK8V.png){kind=logo}
Christopher Dunne
Christopher Dunne
The evidence that is the subject of this appeal concerns a cell confession said to have been made to Christopher Dunne when he and the defendant shared a cell in Bedford prison for about three weeks in June 1997. Christopher Dunne died in 1999. The prosecution argued successfully that the evidence of the confession should be adduced as hearsay evidence. The defendant denied making any confession to Christopher Dunne about the murder.
The prosecution took the decision not to call him as a witness in the first trial. In one undated disclosure note it is said that the decision was based on an assessment that he was regarded as unreliable and not credible due to him being offered an inducement. In other disclosure notes other reasons are given namely that other evidence was sufficient to prove the case in particular including the then available footwear evidence and the suggestion of an inducement was not maintained.
Christopher Dunne gave a witness statement to the police on 18 December 1997 after he had been released from prison. Before turning to what he said the sequence of events is important. Christopher Dunne was a police informant. He was registered as such in late 1996. He had a number of criminal convictions for violence and dishonesty set out in agreed fact 69 . He had on occasions been paid for information provided to the police. His handler was DC Branagan who was a junior officer working on the murder investigation from late February 1997.
The key events are as follows:
Christoper Dunne was registered as an informant in October 1996. A report by DI Nash dated 5 March 1998 records his meetings with the police and his handler DC Branagan from that time. He was seen by officers and gave information on 4 October 1996 and was paid, on 10 October and was paid, on 16 October there is no mention of payment and on 11 December 1996 there is also no mention of payment. The contact sheets for those four meetings have not survived. There is no mention in this report of the August meetings with DC Branagan and DC Cox. The notes and reports that are still available are however for the meetings from August 1997 with which we are concerned beginning with contact sheet number 5.
The murder occurred on 28 February 1997. There is no note of any contact with Christopher Dunne between December 1996 and August 1997.
Agreed facts 51 – 52 show that from 28 February 1997 and 7 March 1997 news reports contained references to how the victim was killed including that the attack was frenzied and violent, that the victim was found in a burnt caravan and had been stabbed to death before the fire.
Agreed fact 134 was that the murder was reported in the local newspapers from 2 March 1997 to 10 August 1997.
On 12 April 1997 Christopher Dunne was involved in a violent incident in a Balti House restaurant and was arrested on 28 May 1997 and charged with assault occasioning bodily harm . He was remanded to Bedford prison arriving on remand on 30 May 1997. He was convicted of that offence in October 1997.
The appellant requested to move to a cell to share with Christopher Dunne and they did from 6 June to 23 June 1997.
On 9 July 1997 Christopher Dunne was sentenced to five months imprisonment.
On 10August 1997 an article in the ‘Bedford on Sunday’ newspaper informed readers that DC Branagan and DC Cox had travelled to the USA to visit the Nike organisation regarding the footmark and shoe issue. The article contained a large drawing of the sole of a Nike shoe, it referred to a footprint of a Nike trainer left at the scene but did not state where it was found. The article contained a photograph of the burnt-out caravan and referred to the victim being found stabbed to death in the burning caravan, that she was subject to a frenzied attack and that the dogs were also stabbed. A suspect was mentioned in the article and referred to as ‘a prolific burglar who cannot be named for legal reasons’. Agreed fact 135 records that this article was the only press report to mention DC Branagan.
On 10 August 1997 Christopher Dunne spoke to a prison officer and asked to speak to the police. He mentioned the appellant to a prison officer. The officer referred to it being the same day as the news article.
On 11 August 1997 he was seen by DC Branagan and DC Cox. Contact sheet number 5 records the first account Christopher Dunne gave of a confession. DC Branagan’s notebooks, exhibits SJB/40 and 41, have not survived the passage of time and were lost when a storage facility was flooded. No evidence has been obtained from DC Cox who attended the meeting. Christopher Dunne said he would make a statement if he got bail or a family visit for a few hours. No offer was made to meet those requests. He was told enquires would be made and a suggestion was made that a letter could be prepared for the sentencing judge in his forthcoming court case. The notes of this meeting and a further meeting on 13 August 1997 are set out more fully below.
Christopher Dunne was seen again on 18 August 1997 by DC Branagan alone. A short note refers to Christopher Dunne making a statement. He was said to be not interested. He was informed that a letter to the judge indicating his assistance could be written. He was told his request for bail was not possible.
On 26 August 1997 he was seen again by DC Branagan. On this occasion his solicitor met with him privately and reported that he did not want to make a statement at that stage.
On 24 October 1997 Christopher Dunne was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for the Balti house offence.
At some time, in late 1997 but before 16 December 1997, the Crown Prosecution Service informed the senior and deputy senior investigating officers that the CPS was proposing to discontinue the case against the appellant because there was no realistic prospect of obtaining a conviction. That was before the police had received the expert evidence that was conclusive concerning the appellant’s training shoe leaving a mark on the victim's forehead. That evidence was not provided until 1998.
Christopher Dunne was seen by the police on 16 December 1997 after his release from prison.
On 18 December 1997 Christopher Dunne signed the witness statement adduced in this case.
The report from DI Nash recorded the meeting on 16 December 1998 and a meeting on 23 January 1998 when Christopher Dunne was paid. DC Branagan, in her witness statement of 17 March 1998, said that the January 1998 meeting was brief. She was accompanied by DI Nash. She said there had been no further discussions regarding the murder. The note of the meeting on 23 January 1998 refers to a report completed by DI Nash as to the result of the conversation.
A final meeting took place on 16 February 1998 and drugs were discussed. The information that Christopher Dunne supplied was said to be reliable leading to arrests and the recovery of drugs. The report noted that he had been paid for some of the information.