4.3 Evidence 149
previous day. He couldn’t be sure of the
time. The Sunday papers had printed
the story of White’s arrest, with a recent
photograph of him getting out of the
same white car at a friend’s wedding.
a How strong is the evidence provided
by Mrs Short? Does it count as
corroboration for Mr Green’s
accusation?
b How reliable is the restaurant owner
as a witness?
c What problems are there with
Mr Long’s evidence?
d Where would you look for further
evidence if you were investigating
this case?
3 (Harder task)‘Because of the compensation-claim
culture which has grown up in many
countries, advertising by lawyers and
conditional-fee agreements for
personal injury cases should not be
permitted.’
Write a short evidence-based argument
supporting or challenging this
recommendation. Base your argument on
the evidence found in Docs 3 and 4 in
Chapter 4.1 (pages 131–2, 134), and give
an assessment of how strongly you think
this supports your conclusion.Answers and comments are on page 324.1 Explain the difference between direct
and indirect evidence, giving illustrative
examples.
2 Imagine an investigation that turns on
whether a certain person, whom we’ll
call Mr White, visited another person,
Mr Green, one Saturday afternoon.
Mr Green is accusing Mr White of coming
to his house and assaulting him.
• A witness, Mrs Short, who lives in the
flat below Mr Green, says that she saw
a man answering White’s description
arriving by car at the house on that
Saturday. Later, when she went out to
the shop, she noticed the car again, and
thought she saw a parking ticket on the
windscreen.
• White says he was nowhere near
Green’s house, and produces a second
witness – a restaurant owner – who
testifies that White was in his restaurant
on the Saturday in question, and that
he stayed there all afternoon; and that
his car – a white Peugeot – was in the
restaurant car park the whole time.
White and the restaurant owner are old
friends and business partners.
• On the Sunday evening a third witness,
Mr Long, who lives opposite Green
but doesn’t know him or White or the
restaurant owner, comes forward and
states that he had seen a white Peugeot
parked outside his (Long’s) house theEnd-of-chapter assignments