Fresh Evidence: Role of Appeal Court: Bain v The Queen [2007] UKPC 33

The appellant was convicted of five counts of murder in 1995 following the allegation that he had killed five members of his family and had then staged a scene making it look as if his father had killed the other four before committing suicide. He had appealed to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on the grounds that there was fresh evidence which, had it been adduced at trial, might reasonably have led the jury to return a different verdict. The Court of Appeal concluded that no miscarriage of justice had occurred as, had any reasonable jury considered the new evidence in conjunction with the old evidence, they would still have found the appellant guilty.