BAILII is celebrating 24 years of free online access to the law! Would you consider making a contribution?
No donation is too small. If every visitor before 31 December gives just £1, it will have a significant impact on BAILII's ability to continue providing free access to the law.
Thank you very much for your support!
[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback] | ||
England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions |
||
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Jabbar, R (On The Application Of) v The Sheffield Crown Court [2022] EWHC 516 (Admin) (10 March 2022) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2022/516.html Cite as: [2022] EWHC 516 (Admin) |
[New search] [Printable PDF version] [Help]
Neutral Citation Number:
Case No:
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Before :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Between :
|
|
|
- and - |
||
|
|
|
- and - |
||
|
||
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RUPERT BOWERS QC and VICTORIA SMITH-SWAIN (instructed by Liberty Solicitors) for the Claimant
TOM LITTLE QC (instructed by the Director of Public Prosecutions) for the Defendant
Hearing dates: 20.01.2022
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely by circulation to the parties’ representatives by email and released to BAILII. The date and time for hand-down is deemed to be
10:30am on Thursday, 10 March 2022.
Lady Justice Thirlwall:
The Statutory Framework
“(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision, with respect to any specified preliminary stage of proceedings for an offence, as to the maximum period—
(a) to be allowed to the prosecution to complete that stage;
(b) during which the accused may, while awaiting completion of that stage, be—
(i) in the custody of a magistrates’ court; or
(ii) in the custody of the Crown Court;
in relation to that offence.
(2) The regulations may, in particular—
…
(c) make such provision with respect to the procedure to be followed in criminal proceedings as the Secretary of State considers appropriate in consequence of any other provision of the regulations;”
…
“(3) The appropriate court may, at any time before the expiry of a time limit imposed by the regulations, extend, or further extend, that limit; but the court shall not do so unless it is satisfied—
(a) that the need for the extension is due to—
(i) the illness or absence of the accused, a necessary witness, a judge or a magistrate;
(ii) a postponement which is occasioned by the ordering by the court of separate trials in the case of two or more accused or two or more offences; or
(iii) some other good and sufficient cause; and
(b) that the prosecution has acted with all due diligence and expedition.” (emphasis added)
“(5) Where—
(a) a person escapes from the custody of a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court before the expiry of a custody time limit which applies in his case; or
(b) a person who has been released on bail in consequence of the expiry of a custody time limit—
(i) fails to surrender himself into the custody of the court at the appointed time; or
(ii) is arrested by a constable on a ground mentioned in section 7(3)(b) of the Bail Act 1976 (breach, or likely breach, of conditions of bail);
the regulations shall, so far as they provide for any custody time limit in relation to the preliminary stage in question, be disregarded.” (emphasis added)
“(a) not less than 5 days before the expiry of the time limit give notice in writing to the appropriate officer of the Crown Court and to the accused or his representative stating whether or not it intends to ask the Crown Court to impose conditions on the grant of bail in respect of the accused and, if it intends to do so, the nature of the conditions to be sought; and
(b) make arrangements for the accused to be brought before the Crown Court within the period of 2 days preceding the expiry of the time limit.”
“(6) The Crown Court, on being notified that an accused who is in custody pending trial there has the benefit of a custody time limit under Regulation 5 above and that the time limit is about to expire, shall [with some exclusions which are not relevant here] grant him bail in accordance with the Bail Act 1976, as from the expiry of the time limit, subject to a duty to appear before the Crown Court for trial.”
“(6) Subsection (6A) below applies where—
(a) a person escapes from the custody of a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court; or
(b) a person who has been released on bail fails to surrender himself into the custody of the court at the appointed time;
and is accordingly unlawfully at large for any period.
(6A) The following, namely—
(a) the period for which the person is unlawfully at large; and
(b) such additional period (if any) as the appropriate court may direct, having regard to the disruption of the prosecution occasioned by—
(i) the person’s escape or failure to surrender; and
(ii) the length of the period mentioned in paragraph (a) above,
shall be disregarded, so far as the offence in question is concerned, for the purposes of the overall time limit which applies in his case in relation to the stage which the proceedings have reached at the time of the escape or, as the case may be, at the appointed time.”
(1) A person to whom this section applies shall be granted bail except as provided in Schedule 1 to this Act.
(2) This section applies to a person who is accused of an offence when—
(a) he appears or is brought before a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court in the course of or in connection with proceedings for the offence, or
(b) he applies to a court for bail or for a variation of the conditions of bail in connection with the proceedings.
“(1) The defendant need not be granted bail if the court is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that the defendant, if released on bail (whether subject to conditions or not) would—
(a) fail to surrender to custody, or
(b) commit an offence while on bail, or
(c) interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice, whether in relation to himself or any other person.”
“First. When a judge grants bail only because the custody time limit has not been extended, the custody time limit dies with that decision. Providing the decision to grant bail was in consequence of the expiry of a custody time limit, then thereafter the custody time limit regime does not apply.
Second. If, in wholly different circumstances a defendant either escapes or is granted bail during the operational period of what would otherwise be a custody time limit, then the period when either having escaped or having been granted bail is held in suspense if at a later stage the defendant is legitimately remanded into custody. In that circumstance, the custody time limit regime obtains.”
“Some judges grant bail immediately, given that there are usually only a few days left and there is little point wasting public money keeping a person in custody for few days longer when they have to be released shortly thereafter. Other judges wait until the very end and grant bail from a certain date. Whatever the view, the only reason the judge has granted bail is in consequence of his decision not to extend the custody time limit.”
The claimant’s case
“Problems can occur where bail is granted a few days before a CTL expires because any re arrest for breach of bail may mean a CTL expires before the defendant appears at the court dealing with the case… If the CTL expires, a defendant must be released no matter how serious the breach.
To avoid this situation arising, the attention of the judge must be drawn to Regulation 6(6) and to the release of the defendant on the CTL expiry date. Any future remand following a breach of bail will not be subject to a CTL: the defendant’s bail or remand will be at the discretion of the court (s22(5)(b) of the Act).”