Summary Criminal Litigation UNIT 6 + 7 - Indictments and Preliminaries to Trial in the Crown Court
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BPC
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BPC
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6 + 7. Indictments and Preliminaries to Trial in Crown Court
Includes:
- The Indictment;
o Time-limits for service;
o Formatting and Duplicity;
o Specimen Counts;
- Voluntary Bills of Indictment;
- Joinder of Counts;
- Joinder of Accused;
- Severance;
- Amending Indictments;
- Plea and Trial Preparation Hearings;
- Arraignment;
- Dismissal
The Indictment
D11.1 The indictment is simply the document that contains the formal charge or
charges against the defendant who is to be arraigned (called to face trial) in a Crown
Court. The rules for indictments are under CrimPR Part 10.
Before an indictment becomes A Bill of Indictment, it begins as a draft to be served to the
court.
D11.2 Section 2(2) of the Administration of Justice Act 1933, makes clear that no draft
indictment can be served unless:
(a) The accused has been sent for trial;
(b) A High Court judge has directed or consented to the preferment of a voluntary bill of
indictment;
(c) A Crown Court judge has consented to the preferment of a bill of indictment, following
a declaration by the court approving a deferred prosecution agreement;
(d) The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial.
- An indictment may also be preferred where a prosecutor reinstates proceedings after
CTLs have expired.
D11.3 This draft indictment should then be served on the court and endorsed by a
Court Officer through signature (unless the court directs otherwise), who should also date
their receipt of the draft.
- Under CrimPR 10.3, in the vast majority of cases a draft indictment will be
generated electronically when the case is sent, subject to amendments included
by the prosecution.
Despite this, failure to follow the endorsement procedures will not automatically
render an indictment invalid. If no issue is made of the validity of the indictment before the
commencement of trial (guilty plea or swearing in of jury) then no objection may be taken to
it and it cannot form the basis of appeal.
11.6 Responsibility for drafting the indictment rests with the counsel for the prosecution.
Time-limits for Service
, D11.8 If the draft indictment has not been generated automatically upon the sending
of case for trial, a draft indictment should be served on an appropriate officer of
the Crown Court within 20 business days, of the date on which:
(a) Copies of documents are served where a person is sent for trial at Crown
Court under s51 CDA 1998; or
(b) A High Court judge has consented to the preferments of a voluntary bill of
indictment.
If the prosecution will be seeking to include counts on the indictment which differ
from those on the basis of which the accused was sent, the draft should be served
more quickly than this period suggests.
CrimPR 10.2(8) permits the Crown Court to extend the time-limit, even after it has
expired.
- There are no specific rules as to have an application for extension should be
made what it should contain.
What may be Included in an Indictment
D11.3 On the original draft of indictment, charges for any indictable offence may
be included, in addition to those which are sufficiently linked to be properly
joined in a single indictment, subject to the rules of joinder of counts.
Formatting and Duplicity
The layout of the indictment should follow the form given in CrimPR 10 and the
Indictments Act 1915:
(a) Each offence charge should be set out in separate paragraphs, known
as counts. If there is more than one counts, they should be numbered;
- The counts should be ordered in seriousness (max sentence).
(b) Each count should be divided into a statement of offence and particulars
of offence;
(c) The statement of offence should describe the offence shortly in ordinary
language and, if the offence is statutory, should specify which section and
subsection is relevant;
(d) The particulars of offence should give particulars necessary for giving
reasonable information as to the nature of the charge and make clear
what the prosecutor alleges against the defendant.
A count should state the date on which the offence occurred like this: ‘on 1st day
of January 2020’. If the precise date is a known, prefix this date with ‘on or about’ or
‘on a day unknown’/ ‘on a date unknown between’.
- Any date specification will have to have some evidential basis.
The rule against duplicity requires that a count must allege that an offence
occurred on one day. However, if an offence is continuing over a number of days,
the count may allege that it occurred on more than one day. Conspiracy is a prime
example.
- A continuous offence is not the same as the same offence being
committed several times across several days… such as stealing every
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