ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of the expert witness in Northern Ireland criminal proceedings. The only statutory provisions specific to the use of expert evidence in criminal proceedings are found in the Crown Court Rules 1979 and Magistrates’ Court Rules 1984. Lip-reading is just one field of expertise that has been regarded with some degree of suspicion; other relatively novel and narrow fields within the realm of science and medicine have been similarly questioned. In practice, in summary prosecutions, prosecution expert evidence will be served on the defence with all other prosecution statements of evidence in the form of a court summons served on the defendant either before the initial hearing or alternatively during an early remand appearance. As the twin vicissitudes of austerity and managerialism continue to shape the evolution of evidential and procedural rules, changes to the funding regime will almost certainly mean increased incentives for parties to minimise the use of multiple experts.
