[1995] 3 WLR 52 HL. The House of Lords upheld the view of the Court of Appeal that the defendants' convictions should be quashed, on the basis that the basis that the judge had not given `both limbs' of the VyeDirection (credibility and propensity) where it was appropriate.
This case is important for the general comments of Lord Steyn on the situation in which a defendant has no criminal convictions and claims to be of good character, and yet he is known to have engaged in criminal activity. Lord Steyn said, while it was to be assumed prima facie that a defendant with no convictions was to be treated as of good character:
``...a sensible criminal justice system should not compel a judge to go through the charade of giving directions in accordance with R v Vye in a case where the defendant's claim to a good character is spurious''
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