Bail and remands. Time limits applicable to remands in custody and applications for extension Flashcards
Period of Remand in Custody
The maximum period for which a magistrates’ court may remand (place (a defendant) on bail or in custody) an accused in custody is ‘eight clear days’
Periods Applicable
Custody Time-Limits
Section 22 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985
was introduced to remedy the manifest inadequacy of the provisions then available to ensure that trials on indictment begin within a reasonable time. It empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations fixing:
(a) the maximum period available to the prosecution to complete any preliminary (pre-trial) stage of proceedings for an offence; and/or
(b) the maximum period for which an accused may be kept in custody while awaiting completion of such a stage.
The regulations may prescribe an overall time-limit within which the prosecution must complete the stage of the proceedings in question. However, no overall time-limits currently apply.
Alternatively or additionally, the regulations may prescribe a custody time-limit, that being the maximum period for which the accused may be remanded in custody while the stage is being completed
Time-limits
The regulations in question, the Prosecution of Offences (Custody Time Limits) Regulations 1987 only impose custody time-limits. These are as follows:
(a) Between first appearance and committal. the maximum period for which an accused charged with an indictable offence may be held in the custody of the magistrates’ court between first appearance and committal proceedings is 70 days.
(b) Between first appearance and summary trial. If the offence is triable either way and the court determines to try the case summarily, the maximum period in custody between first appearance and the court beginning to hear evidence for the prosecution is again 70 days, unless the decision for summary trial is taken within 56 days, in which case the limit is reduced to 56 days. In the case of a summary offence, the maximum period is 56 days
(c) Between committal and trial on indictment. the maximum period for which an accused committed for trial to the Crown Court may be held in custody between ‘committal’ and the start of trial is 112 days.
(d) Multiple committals. If a single indictment is preferred containing counts in respect of which the accused was committed for trial on two or more different occasions, the 112-day limit applies separately in relation to each offence
(e) Section 51 sending. Where the accused has been sent for trial under the CDA 1998, s. 51 (Sending cases to the Crown Court), the maximum period is 182 days between the date on which the accused is sent to the Crown Court and the start of the trial. From this maximum must be deducted any period during which the accused was held in custody by the magistrates.
(f) Retrial directed by the Court of Appeal. Where an indictment is preferred by direction of the Court of Appeal, following the ordering of a retrial, the 112-day limit applies from that preferment.
(g) Voluntary bill. Where proceedings are by way of a voluntary bill of indictment the 112-day period runs from the date of preferment of the bill
Procedure for Seeking an Extension of Time-limits
At any time before the expiry of a time-limit, the Crown Court, if the accused has already been committed for trial, or the magistrates’ court, in other cases, may extend the limit if satisfied of two matters:
(a) that ‘the prosecution has acted with all due diligence and expedition’, and
(b) that there is ‘good and sufficient cause for doing so’.
An already extended limit may be further extended.
The extension of custody time-limits should be addressed at the time that a trial date was fixed out with the existing limit (in that case to accommodate the convenience of counsel), rather than after the decision as to listing had already been made.
