had exercised his discretion wrongly in admitting the oral and written statements, but that since the defendant had never his character in issue it was not relevant for evidence of his bad character to be given against him, and when an incident like that happened during that course of a trial the : character evidence of character given against incident like happened during course of a trial the verdict could other unsatisfactory.

doi:10.4324/9781843143451-98

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had exercised his discretion wrongly in admitting the oral and written statements, but that since the defendant had never his character in issue it was not relevant for evidence of his bad character to be given against him, and when an incident like that happened during that course of a trial the

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ABSTRACT

Per curiam: A man in custody is entitled to consult a solicitor at an early stage of the investigation. The only qualification is that he cannot delay the investigation by asking to see a solicitor if the effect would be to cause 'unreasonable delay or hindrance ... to the process of investigation or the administration of justice'. Neither customs officers nor police officers have any right to detain somebody for the purpose of getting them to help with their inquiries: an officer arrests or detains a person because he reasonably suspects him of having committed an offence. While the accused is in detention, the officer is entitled to ask some questions for the purpose of helping his inquiries. It is not a good reason for refusing to allow a suspect to see his solicitor that he has not yet made any admission.