"Today the Appeal Court quashed the conviction of Mohammed Atif Siddique following his conviction in September 2007 under the Terrorism Act 2000.

"In the Opinion published today the court indicated that the directions given by the trial judge to the jury in relation to section 57(1) of the Terrorism Act amounted to a material misdirection as there was a serious likelihood of confusion regarding the nature of the offence created by section 57(1) and the operation of the defence under section 57(2).

"Where a statutory defence is specifically provided for, as in section 57(2), and there are statutory provisions relating to the onus of proof in relation to such a defence, specific instructions regarding those matters should be given to the jury. In this case the trail judge did not specifically follow the statutory language in section 57(2) or explain that language to the jury.

"However the court did acknowledge that the most authoritative source of guidance on these matters in relation to these specific sections of the Act can be found in the decision of the House of Lords in R v G; R v J [2009] 2 All E.R. 409. As this guidance was not available to the trial judge when he charged the jury it was necessary to have some sympathy for him, but nevertheless he did not proceed appropriately.

"In these circumstances the court quashed the appellant’s conviction on charge (1) of the indictment."

The full decision can be read here.