Reference no: EM133813068

Question

Bonnie, Albert and Russell are all jointly charged with one count of obtaining property by deception, in that they set up a false company together and persuaded people to invest in the company before shutting the operation down and keeping all the money. Bonnie is also individually charged with making a false statement in a tax return. At the trial Bonnie pleads guilty to the making of the false statement in the tax return, and all the defendants plead not guilty to the joint deception offence. Bonnie states that there was no joint enterprise to set up a company together at all. Albert accepts that there was a jointly set up company that was used to commit fraud, but claims that he had nothing to do with it, and said in interview that he thought the police had charged him with the offence because the police had a grudge against him. Russell has vigorously denied the offence. Bonnie is previously of good character, Albert has previous spent convictions for road traffic offences and Russell has several previous convictions for deception offences. Russell's previous convictions all involve setting up false companies and fraudulently taking money from the investors. Discuss the admissibility of character evidence that arise out of these facts for each Defendant.