The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

Article 68(4).

SCHEDULE 3 PROVISIONS SUPPLEMENTARY TO ARTICLE 68(4)

1.  In any criminal proceedings where it is desired to give a statement in evidence in accordance with Article 68, a certificate—

(a) identifying the document containing the statement and describing the manner in which it was produced;

(b) giving such particulars of any device involved in the production of that document as may be appropriate for the purpose of showing that the document was produced by a computer;

(c) dealing with any of the matters mentioned in paragraph (1) of Article 68; and

(d) purporting to be signed by a person occupying a responsible position in relation to the operation of the computer,

shall be evidence of anything stated in it; and for the purposes of this paragraph it shall be sufficient for a matter to be stated to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person stating it.

2.  Notwithstanding paragraph 1, a court may require oral evidence to be given of anything of which evidence could be given by a certificate under that paragraph.

3.  Any person who in a certificate tendered under paragraph 1 in a magistrates' court, a county court, the Crown Court or the Court of Appeal makes a statement which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true shall be guilty of an offence and liable—

(a) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both;

(b) on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

4.  In estimating the weight, if any, to be attached to a statement regard shall be had to all the circumstances from which any inference can reasonably be drawn as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statement and, in particular—

(a) to the question whether or not the information which the information contained in the statement reproduces or is derived from was supplied to the relevant computer, or recorded for the purpose of being supplied to it, contemporaneously with the occurrence or existence of the facts dealt with in that information; and

(b) to the question whether or not any person concerned with the supply of information to that computer, or with the operation of that computer or any equipment by means of which the document containing the statement was produced by it, had any incentive to conceal or misrepresent the facts.

5.  For the purposes of paragraph 4 information shall be taken to be supplied to a computer whether it is supplied directly or (with or without human intervention) by means of any appropriate equipment.

6.  For the purpose of deciding whether or not a statement is admissible in evidence the court may draw any reasonable inference—

(a) from the circumstances in which the statement was made or otherwise came into being; or

(b) from any other circumstances, including the form and contents of the document in which the statement is contained.

7.  Provision may be made by the rules mentioned in paragraph (3) of Article 68 supplementing the provisions of that Article or this Schedule.