CRIMINAL EVIDENCE

The principle laid down in R v Hanson [2005] EWCA Crim 824, [2005] All ER (D) 380 (Mar), that the appellate court will not interfere with the judge’s judgment about the capacity of prior events to establish propensity—under s 101 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003—unless the decision is plainly wrong, or discretion has been exercised unreasonably in the Wednesbury sense, applies equally to the Divisional Court when considering an appeal against a decision of a magistrates’ court.