Study guide
8.5 Speeches, Summing Up & Verdicts
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
8.5 Speeches, Summing Up & Verdicts
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
The defence has the last word: the prosecution closing speech precedes the defence closing speech, and a defence opening speech is available only where the defence calls a witness to fact other than the defendant.
The judge must direct the jury on the law, including the burden and standard of proof, the elements of the offence, the separate consideration of each count and each defendant, and any warning the evidence requires.
Written directions and a route to verdict are now the expected practice, and CrimPR Part 25 requires the judge to give directions in writing unless there is good reason not to.
A majority verdict cannot be accepted until the jury has deliberated for at least two hours under section 17(4) of the Juries Act 1974, in practice two hours and ten minutes.
Where a jury convicts by a majority, the foreman must state in open court the number who agreed and the number who dissented; there is no such requirement for a majority acquittal.
Last updated: August 2026
8.5 Speeches, Summing Up & Verdicts
The closing stages of a Crown Court trial follow a fixed sequence with fixed rules. They are examinable precisely because the details — who speaks when, how long before a majority direction, what the foreman must say — are capable of a single correct answer.
1. The order of speeches
- Stage Who Availability
- Opening speech Prosecution Always (though it may be dispensed with in a short case)
Opening speech Defence Only where the defence intends to call a witness to fact other than the defendant (CrimPR Part 25)
- Closing speech Prosecution Where the defendant is represented, or has called a witness other than themselves
- Closing speech Defence Always — and always last
The defence having the last word is a fixed feature of the adversarial trial. Where there are co-defendants, they close in the order their names appear on the indictment.
Limits on content. Counsel must not:
- Assert their personal belief in the client's innocence or in a witness's veracity;
- Refer to matters not in evidence ;
Comment on the defendant's failure to give evidence in terms suggesting it proves guilt (that is the judge's territory, under s.35);
Make submissions of law to the jury inconsistent with the judge's directions.
Counsel have a duty to assist the court by raising, before speeches, any legal issue that will need to be covered in the summing up, so that directions can be discussed and agreed. Failing to raise a point and then relying on it as a ground of appeal attracts judicial criticism.
2. The summing up
The judge sums up the law and, so far as necessary, the evidence . The standard content:
- On the law
- The division of function: the judge decides the law, the jury decides the facts;
The burden (on the prosecution throughout, save for any statutory reverse burden) and the standard ("so that you are sure");
- The elements of each offence and of any defence;
- The direction to consider each count separately and each defendant separately ;
Any evidential warning the case requires — Turnbull on disputed identification, Lucas on lies, s.34 or s.35 on silence, bad character, hearsay under s.124, the limited use of a co-defendant's confession, expert evidence, and the good character direction under Vye / Hunter ;
That any majority direction will come later, and that for now they must try to reach a unanimous verdict.
- On the facts
- A fair and balanced summary, putting the defence case as well as the prosecution's;
Identifying the real issues — the modern approach is a focused summary rather than a recitation of the evidence;
Making clear that any comment the judge makes on the facts is comment only, and the jury is free to disregard it.
Written directions. Under CrimPR Part 25 the judge must give the jury directions on the law in writing unless there is good reason not to, and the Crown Court Compendium provides model directions. The route to verdict — a series of factual questions with the consequence of each answer — is now standard, and is the practical mechanism by which juries are kept on track.
3. Alternative verdicts
Section 6(3) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 allows a jury, on an indictment for an offence, to convict of another offence expressly or impliedly included in the allegation. Common pairings: s.18 → s.20; robbery → theft; murder → manslaughter.
The judge must decide whether to leave an alternative. The guiding principles are that an alternative should be left where it is realistically available on the evidence and where a failure to leave it would leave the jury with an unfair "all or nothing" choice, but not where it would be unfair to the defence (because it was never explored) or would confuse the issues in a case where the parties have joined battle on a single question.
- 4. Verdicts
- Unanimity first
The jury retires under a direction to reach a unanimous verdict. On retirement they are placed in the charge of a jury bailiff, they must not separate without leave, and any note from the jury must be read in open court (save where it discloses the state of voting) and dealt with in the presence of the parties.
Majority verdicts — Juries Act 1974, s.17
The court shall not accept a majority verdict unless the jury have had such period for deliberation as the court thinks reasonable having regard to the nature and complexity of the case , and in any event not less than two hours (s.17(4)). The familiar two hours and ten minutes comes from the Criminal Practice Directions, which add ten minutes for the jury to settle.
Acceptable majorities: with 12 jurors, 11–1 or 10–2 ; with 11 , 10–1 ; with 10 , 9–1 . With 9 jurors the verdict must be unanimous .
Section 17(3) : where the jury convicts by a majority, the foreman must state in open court the number who agreed and the number who dissented . A conviction returned without that statement is unsafe. There is no corresponding requirement for a majority acquittal , so that the defendant is not stigmatised.
Hung juries and discharge
Where the jury cannot agree even by a permissible majority, the judge discharges them from returning a verdict. That is not an acquittal . The prosecution may seek a retrial ; the conventional practice is that after a second jury has also failed to agree, the prosecution will offer no evidence unless there are exceptional reasons.
Jury size. A trial may continue with as few as 9 jurors where jurors have been discharged (Juries Act 1974, s.16). If the number falls below 9 the jury must be discharged.
Exam traps in this section
A defence opening speech requires a witness to fact other than the defendant .
Two hours is the statutory minimum in s.17(4); two hours ten minutes is the practice-direction figure.
The foreman must state the numbers on a majority conviction only.
A hung jury is not an acquittal .
With 9 jurors the verdict must be unanimous .