Section 78: New and compelling evidence

Criminal Justice Act 2003 · 2003 c. 44View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 10: Retrial for serious offences

The requirements of this section are met if there is new and compelling evidence against the acquitted person in relation to the qualifying offence.

Evidence is new if it was not adduced in the proceedings in which the person was acquitted (nor, if those were appeal proceedings, in earlier proceedings to which the appeal related).

Evidence is compelling if—

it is reliable,
it is substantial, and
in the context of the outstanding issues, it appears highly probative of the case against the acquitted person.

The outstanding issues are the issues in dispute in the proceedings in which the person was acquitted and, if those were appeal proceedings, any other issues remaining in dispute from earlier proceedings to which the appeal related.

For the purposes of this section, it is irrelevant whether any evidence would have been admissible in earlier proceedings against the acquitted person.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.