DPP v Patterson

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1979
• Date: 01 January 1979
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

Director of Public Prosecutions

and

Patterson

Young person - Prolonged interrogation in absence of parents - Inculpatory statement made by accused.

The accused was questioned in a police station from 9.40 p.m. until 1.30 a.m. on the following day. The accused was 16¹/₂ years old and the questioning took place in the absence of either of his parents or any adult friend. At the conclusion of the interrogation the accused made an inculpatory statement Held, by Finlay P. that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had made the statement voluntarily and that, accordingly, the statement...