Study guide
6.2 Hearsay Safeguards, Multiple Hearsay & Procedure
UK Bar — Criminal Litigation, Evidence and Sentencing Exam
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1 Chapter 1: Introduction & BSB Assessment Overview
1.1 BSB Centralised Assessment Structure & Regulations 1.2 Overriding Objective & Court Structure 1.3 Classification of Offences, Court Jurisdiction & Funding
2 Chapter 2: Commencing Proceedings, Charges & Allocation
2.1 Commencing Proceedings & Police Station Procedure 2.2 First Hearing & Classification of Offences 2.3 Allocation and Mode of Trial 2.4 Sending for Trial & Committal for Sentence 2.5 Youth Court & Special Allocation Rules 2.6 Sentencing Powers of the Youth Court
3 Chapter 3: Bail, Remand & Case Management
3.1 Right to Bail & Statutory Exceptions 3.2 Bail Conditions, Breach & Appeals 3.3 Remands, Adjournments & Custody Time Limits 3.4 Case Management & Pre-Trial Hearings 3.5 Prosecution & Defence Disclosure
4 Chapter 4: Indictments & Preparation for Trial in the Crown Court
4.1 The Indictment: Form, Content, Time Limits & Specimen Counts 4.2 Joinder, Severance, Amendment & Voluntary Bills 4.3 Arraignment, Pleas & Change of Plea 4.4 PTPH, Applications to Dismiss & Offering No Evidence
5 Chapter 5: Criminal Evidence — General Principles & PACE Exclusions
5.1 Preliminary Evidential Matters: Relevance, Admissibility & Tribunals 5.2 Burden and Standard of Proof & Presumptions 5.3 Confession Evidence & Mandatory Exclusion 5.4 Discretionary Exclusion of Unfair Evidence 5.5 Inferences from Silence
6 Chapter 6: Special Evidentiary Rules — Hearsay, Character & Identification
6.1 Hearsay Evidence & The Four Gateways 6.2 Hearsay Safeguards, Multiple Hearsay & Procedure 6.3 Defendant Bad Character Evidence 6.4 Non-Defendant Bad Character & Co-Defendant Character 6.5 Good Character, Proof of Convictions & Bad Character Procedure 6.6 Visual Identification & Turnbull Guidelines
7 Chapter 7: Witnesses, Privilege & Opinion Evidence
7.1 Witness Competence, Compellability & Special Measures 7.2 Oaths, Affirmations & Compelling Witness Attendance 7.3 Examination in Chief: Leading Questions, Memory Refreshing & Hostile Witnesses 7.4 Cross-Examination, Previous Inconsistent Statements & Re-Examination 7.5 Opinion Evidence & Expert Witnesses 7.6 Privilege, Public Interest Immunity & Immunity
8 Chapter 8: Trial Procedure in the Magistrates' Court & Crown Court
8.1 Magistrates' Court Trial Procedure 8.2 Summary Trial: Pre-Trial Rulings, Absence & Abuse of Process 8.3 Crown Court Trial Procedure 8.4 Jury Trial: Absence, Unrepresented Defendants & Abuse of Process 8.5 Speeches, Summing Up & Verdicts
9 Chapter 9: Sentencing Framework & Guidelines
9.1 Sentencing Framework, Principles & Procedure 9.2 Seriousness, Guilty Plea Reduction, Aggravation & Mitigation 9.3 Sentencing Procedure: Newton Hearings, Reports & Goodyear Indications 9.4 Custodial Sentences, Suspension & Release 9.5 Mandatory & Minimum Custodial Sentences 9.6 Community Orders, Fines & Discharges 9.7 Ancillary Orders, Costs & Dangerous Offenders
10 Chapter 10: Appeals & Post-Trial Remedies
10.1 Appeals from the Magistrates' Court (Crown Court & High Court Case Stated) 10.2 Rectifying Mistakes, Case Stated & Judicial Review 10.3 Crown Court Appeals (Court of Appeal Criminal Division & Supreme Court) 10.4 CACD Procedure: Rectification, Leave, Renewal, Loss of Time & Fresh Evidence 10.5 Prosecution Appeals, Attorney General's References & the CCRC
6.2 Hearsay Safeguards, Multiple Hearsay & Procedure
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Multiple hearsay is admissible under section 121 CJA 2003 only where one of the specified gateways applies to each statement, or where the court is satisfied that the value of the evidence is so high that the interests of justice require its admission.
Section 124 allows evidence to be adduced to attack the credibility of an absent declarant that could have been put to them in cross-examination, including matters that would otherwise be barred by the collateral finality rule.
Section 125 imposes a duty on the judge to stop the case where the case is based wholly or partly on hearsay that is so unconvincing that a conviction would be unsafe.
Section 126 gives an additional discretion to exclude hearsay where the case for excluding it, having regard to the danger of undue waste of time, substantially outweighs the case for admitting it.
Under CrimPR rule 20.2 a prosecutor's hearsay notice must be served not more than 20 business days after a not guilty plea in a magistrates' court, or 10 business days in the Crown Court.
Last updated: August 2026
6.2 Hearsay Safeguards, Multiple Hearsay & Procedure
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 replaced a rigid exclusionary rule with a gateway-plus-safeguards structure. Candidates who stop at the gateways answer only half the question. Every hearsay SBA has a second stage: even if it gets in, what protects the defendant?
1. The safeguard architecture
- Provision What it does
- s.121 Restricts multiple hearsay
- s.123 Excludes hearsay where the maker (or any intermediate supplier) lacked the required capability
- s.124 Permits attacks on the credibility of the absent declarant
- s.125 Requires the judge to stop the case where unconvincing hearsay would make a conviction unsafe
- s.126 Adds a discretion to exclude for undue waste of time — expressly without prejudice to s.78 PACE
- s.78 PACE The general fairness discretion, which applies to hearsay as to anything else
- Multiple hearsay: s.121
A statement is multiple hearsay where the information has passed through more than one out-of-court link — A tells B, B writes it down, and the note is tendered to prove what A said happened. Section 121(1) provides that such a statement is not admissible to prove the fact that an earlier hearsay statement was made unless:
(a) either statement is admissible under s.117 (business documents), s.119 (previous inconsistent statements) or s.120 (other previous statements of a witness); or
(b) all parties agree ; or
(c) the court is satisfied that the value of the evidence in question, taking into account how reliable the statements appear to be, is so high that the interests of justice require the later statement to be admissible for that purpose.
Note what is not in the list: s.116 and s.114(1)(d) . A statement from an unavailable witness recounting what a third party told them will not get through s.121(a). The only routes are agreement or the demanding interests-of-justice test in s.121(1)(c).
Credibility of the absent declarant: s.124
Where hearsay is admitted and the maker does not give oral evidence, s.124 puts the opposing party in roughly the position they would have been in on cross-examination:
Any evidence admissible as relevant to the declarant's credibility may be adduced;
With the court's leave, evidence may be adduced of any matter which could have been put to the declarant in cross-examination as relevant to credibility but which would otherwise be inadmissible — this expressly displaces the finality rule on collateral matters ;
Evidence of a previous inconsistent statement by the declarant may be adduced to show they contradicted themselves;
If the party who tendered the hearsay then adduces evidence to rebut an allegation, the court may allow further evidence in response.
Section 124 is the practical answer to "the witness cannot be cross-examined": their convictions for dishonesty, their inconsistent earlier accounts and their motive to lie can all go before the jury.
Stopping the case: s.125
Where, on a trial on indictment, the case against the defendant is based wholly or partly on a hearsay statement , and the evidence is so unconvincing that, considering its importance to the case, a conviction would be unsafe , the judge must either direct an acquittal or discharge the jury. Note the ingredients: the duty arises at any time after the close of the prosecution case , it is mandatory once the test is met, and it is a lower threshold than Galbraith because it focuses on the reliability of the hearsay rather than on whether a jury could convict.
Discretionary exclusion: s.126
The court may refuse to admit a hearsay statement if satisfied that " the case for excluding the statement, taking account of the danger that to admit it would result in undue waste of time, substantially outweighs the case for admitting it ". Section 126(2) preserves the common law discretion and s.78 PACE , which remains the principal tool where the hearsay is central and the defendant has no realistic means of challenging it.
Fair trial. The Strasbourg "sole or decisive" objection was addressed in Al-Khawaja and Tahery v UK and Horncastle : a conviction may rest on hearsay that is sole or decisive provided there are sufficient counterbalancing factors — the statutory safeguards, careful judicial scrutiny of the reasons for absence, s.124 material and a proper direction.
2. Procedure: CrimPR Part 20
Notice is required where a party wants to introduce hearsay under s.114(1)(d) (interests of justice), s.116 (unavailable witness), s.117(1)(c) (documents prepared for criminal proceedings) or s.121 (multiple hearsay). Nothing needs to be served for res gestae or a confession, which is a favourite trap.
- Step Time limit (r.20.2)
- Prosecutor's notice — magistrates' court Not more than 20 business days after the defendant pleads not guilty
- Prosecutor's notice — Crown Court Not more than 10 business days after the defendant pleads not guilty
- Defendant's notice As soon as reasonably practicable
Application to determine an objection Served on the court officer and every other party, explaining the grounds
The notice must identify the evidence, set out the facts relied on to make it admissible, explain how those facts will be proved if disputed, and identify the statutory basis.
Failure to give notice is not fatal. The court may dispense with the requirement, allow notice in a different form, or extend the time limit, even after it has expired. But s.132(5) CJA 2003 provides that a failure to comply may be taken into account in exercising the s.78 discretion, and, if the evidence is admitted, in considering any question of costs.
Exam traps in this section
s.121 does not list s.116 or s.114(1)(d) — multiple hearsay from an unavailable witness needs agreement or the interests-of-justice route in s.121(1)(c).
s.124 overrides the collateral finality rule with leave.
s.125 is mandatory , applies on indictment, and is triggered by unconvincing hearsay, not merely thin hearsay.
No notice is needed for res gestae or confessions.
Prosecution notice: 20 business days in the magistrates' court, 10 in the Crown Court.