R v Thompson

Facts

Boys said that a man had committed acts of gross indecency with them and had arranged to meet them again, and that he had given them money. Thompson was identified as that man. When he was arrested he had powder puffs on him. Indecent photographs of boys were found at his lodgings. He said the boys had identified the wrong man.

Issue

May those articles be proved on a question of identity?

Held

Yes. The House of Lords held that the powder puffs and the photographs went to confirm that he was the man the boys had described, because they tended to show he was a person who would arrange a meeting of that kind. They were not admitted as mere evidence of bad character.

Principle

Possession of articles that connect the accused with the particular method of the crime may be admitted on identity. Propensity alone would not do.

Why it matters

Straffen is the other identity case, and it is stronger, because the killings shared peculiar features. Thompson is the example of the photographs and the powder puffs.

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