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Expert not protected from self incrimination?

The Court of Appeal has challenged the established legal principle that a person is protected from incriminating himself by forcing a computer expert to hand over potentially damaging computer evidence. The judge has determined that this privilege is verbal based and does not extend to documents or data. In the case, the Expert was the defendant in proceedings in which it was claimed that he had removed confidential material from his former employer with the intention of using the information for improper purposes.The first that he knew of the case was when a search team, comprising solicitors acting for the claimant company, arrived at his door with an order of the High Court permitting them to search his premises. He took legal advice straight away.His solicitor Alex Megaw of Pannone LLP, told the search party that they were free to look for material which might be relevant for the search but that there was other material which the Expert had indicated might give rise to criminal charges against him, which was not relevant to the case, and for which he asserted his right to claim privilege against disclosure on the grounds that it might incriminate him.The material in question was held on computer and could not be readily separated from the material to be searched. The computer was agreed to be held by an independent Supervising Solicitor so that any evidence was secured and the Expert made application to the court the following day to ensure that his claim to privilege would be recognised and a scheme devised to allow the search to go ahead but without breaching his claim to privilege. Such a scheme was devised and the computer was handed to an IT expert for ‘imaging’ (copying). In the course of imaging the computer, the IT expert came across the illegal material. The question arose, should it be referred to the police or did the Experts assertion of privilege hold good?Solicitor Alex Megaw, a Commercial Litigation Solicitor, Partner with Pannone LLP and Expert in Human Rights. wishes to pursue a further appeal to the House of Lords.

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