... against the conviction. The legal issues here are whether or not there is a probative burden on the defendant, imposed by s 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and if there is (which is therefore incompatible with Article 6 of the ECHR and s 1(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998), whether or not a reverse onus is possible; the intent of the legislator in introducing this particular section of the Criminal Justice Act; whether or not the probative burden violated the human rights of the defendant and whether or not it is necessary to construe the defence laid out in s 139 as per section 3(1) of the Human Rights Act. There are three approaches to statutory interpretation - the literal approach, which concerns itself with the meaning of individual words (and can lead to absurdities); the 'golden' rule, which looks for an interpretation that offers a fair result and ...

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