Vaughan, R v
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE BEATSON
- MR JUSTICE WILKIE
- SIR STEPHEN SILBER
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Georgina Vaughan appealed against her conviction for causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The case involved a confrontation over a stolen phone and escalated to physical violence, in which the self-defense claim was central. The Recorder's directions to ignore a criminal damage allegation and the failure to provide an alternative section 20 charge were deemed to mislead the jury, rendering the conviction unsafe. The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.
J U D G M E N T
LORD JUSTICE BEATSON: This is an appeal by Georgina Vaughan, now aged 42, by limited leave of the single judge, against her conviction, following a trial in the Crown Court at Wood Green before Mr Recorder Bourne and a jury, of a single count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act. The conviction was on 24th July 2013 and on 6th September 2013, before the same court, she was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment. The appellant also appeals with the leave of the single judge against that sentence. Her co-accused, Aaron Vaughan, her son, was acquitted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
The appellant and her son knew the complainant, Tammy McCabe, and they all lived in North London. Tammy McCabe maintained that in August 2012 Aaron Vaughan, who was a user of illegal drugs, stole some of her belongings and she then made numerous attempts to retrieve them. She was able to recover all the belongings save for an iPhone belonging to her son.
On 15th September 2012 she visited the address of Aaron Vaughan's grandmother, Pauline, who lived about 5 minutes' walk from her home. She said that she told Aaron that she wanted her son's phone back and if she did not get it she would report the matter to the police. She maintained that he then became aggressive and said that he was going to get his mother to beat her up. She said that she then went home and in the end decided not to report the matter to the police.
On the same morning a female, whose description, given by a neighbour of Pauline Vaughan, matched Tammy McCabe's description, smashed a number of windowpanes at Pauline Vaughan's house. The neighbour, Christopher Warren, gave evidence that he was at home when he heard the sound of breaking glass. He looked out and saw a woman with long blonde hair in her mid 20s smashing the windowpanes of Pauline's house with a blue and orange two-handed spanner with a ratchet. He said that a man approached her and she swung at him before walking away with the spanner. He was shown a wrench described as Exhibit 1 which he said was similar to and the same colour and design as the one used by the woman.
At approximately 5.30 pm that day the appellant and Aaron Vaughan went to Tammy McCabe's house. The appellant knocked on the door and Aaron stood by the gate. Tammy McCabe came outside. She and the appellant began to fight and she ended up on the floor outside her house. During the fight