My Lords, I am not sure that we are really in disagreement on this. As I think I pointed out several times on the last occasion, criminal conduct does not depend on whether something has been reported; I had a discussion with the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, about that before. We are discussing what level of evidence there has to be before somebody has to say that there is criminal conduct. Somebody has to judge whether there is criminal conduct if the thing has not been reported to the police, prosecuted or charged. It may well be that, in the circumstances the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, refers to, the fact of that kind of reference may be enough to establish criminal conduct. However, if it turns out that the suspicion is wrong, there has not been criminal conduct. That is the only point I am making: it is either covered already, or it should not be extended to the situation being envisaged. I do not think I have made myself very clear, but I was struggling to do so.
Victims and Prisoners Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Bellamy
(Conservative)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 31 January 2024.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Victims and Prisoners Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
835 c1229 
Session
2023-24
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2024-04-08 13:08:21 +0100
URI
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