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Criminal Justice Act 2003

Section 139: Use of documents to refresh memory

443.This section creates a presumption that a witness in criminal proceedings may refresh his memory from a document whilst giving evidence providing that:

  • he indicates that the document represents his recollection at the time he made it; and

  • his recollection was likely to be significantly better at the time the document was made (or verified).

The fact that the witness has read the statement before coming into the witness box will not affect this presumption.

444.In view of the practical difficulties associated with memory refreshing in the witness box from an audio or video recording, subsection (2) makes provision for a witness to refresh his memory from a transcript of such a recording.

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