Bail and remands
• The difference between adjournments and remands,
• Time limits applicable to defendants remanded in custody,
• The general right to bail under the Bail Act 1976 and the occasions when it does not apply,
• The grounds and reasons for refusing bail,
• Bail conditi...
3. Bail and remands
The difference between adjournments and remands,
Time limits applicable to defendants remanded in custody,
The general right to bail under the Bail Act 1976 and the occasions when it does not
apply,
The grounds and reasons for refusing bail,
Bail conditions that can be applied and under what circumstances,
The practice and procedure on appeal to the Crown Court against a decision to refuse
bail in the Magistrates’ Court,
The grounds upon which the prosecution can appeal to the Crown court against a
decision to grant bail,
Dealing with defendants who have failed to surrender to bail or breached their bail
conditions.
READING:
Required reading
CLS Crim Lit Manual 2014, Chapter 3
Blackstone’s – See reading list
LGS 2 and reading notes
What we’re doing today:
Bail:
o Principles governing granting/withholding bail;
o Procedure for making a bail application;
o Challenging the refusal of bail;
o Consequences of failure to attend court;
o Consequences of breaching bail conditions;
o Prosecution appeals against grant of bail;
o Custody time limits.
Remands
Introduction
[Assuming police decide to withhold bail after charge – PACE, s 38:]
What happens next:
• D appears at a magistrates’ court no later than the first sitting after he is charged
with the offence (PACE, s 46(2));
o So if you’re charged on a Thurs afternoon you should be in the
Magistrate Court on Friday morning
Terminology – the syllabus for crim lit specifically reminds us of the need to
clarify terminology
o Adjournment – Case not carrying out today but carries over to the next
hearing
1
, o Remand – every remand is an adjornmant but not ever adjournment is a
remand
• It’s an adjournment where bail is relevant – this may be where we
don’t actually consider bail
• EG: Remanded in custody vs remanded on bail
o Where D is on bail, an adjournment is called a ‘remand’;
Statutory footing:
Main statute is the Bail Act 1976
Criminal Procedure Rule 2013 part 19
Bail
S 4, Bail Act 1976 – The general right to bail
• s 4: rebuttable presumption in favour of bail
o To the extent that the court can only withhold bail if statutory criteria
for doing so are established
o So a bit like s38 of PACE
S4–
(1) A person to whom this section applies shall be granted bail except as provided
in Schedule 1 to this Act”
S4: person who benefit from the presumption in favoring bail they are
Persons who appear before the CC or Mag in the course of or in connection
with proceedings for an offence or applied to a court for bail
Who have been convicted of an offence and who case is adjourned before
reports before sentencing?
Who has brought before the court for alleged breach of a requirement for a
community order
DOES NOT apply:
o Where a person has been convicted of an offence
To bail from the police station
Any question of bail being granted which is not governed by s 4 of the BA 1975 is
at the discretion of the court
This applies to both when the accused first appears and all subsequent
appearance while he remains in the scope of 4(1)
Bail following Indication of Guilty Plea at Plea before Venue Hearing
The usual practise is to continue bail even if there is an anticipation of
custodial sentence impose by the CC
Unless there are good reason for remanding the accuse in custody
Does this make bail a human right???
S 4 BA 1976 gives a “general right to bail” for Ds in criminal litigation
2
, o But s 4 does not apply to all Ds in the criminal justice system, not does it
apply at all stages of the system
There is only a presumption that the D will be released on bail if a case is
remanded
In addition to the “general right” to bail in the BA 1976, s4, Art 5 of the ECHR
provides a right to liberty and security
NO BAIL: Irrebuttable
The court may not grant bail to an accuses charged with:
a. Murder
b. Attempted murder
c. Manslaughter
d. Rape or
e. Attempted rape
f. Or other certain offences
Unless: there is an opinion that there are exceptional circumstances which justify it
“Unconditional” bail – the duty to surrender to custody at the time specified
A D who is released on bail, subject only to the primary duty to surrender to bail
at the next court hearing, is often described as being released on “unconditional
bail”
If a D is granted bail, this means that he or she is released from court subject to a
primary duty to attend the next court hearing in the case
o Known as the “duty to surrender”
For the mags court, a D surrenders to custody by:
o Turning up at the court where he or she was due to appear
o On the due date
o At the appointed time (usually 10am) and
o Reporting to the appropriate person
Release on bail “freezes” the detention clock; it will not resume until the suspect
re-enters police detentions in those proceedings
“Conditional bail”
Duty imposed on the D additional requirements
Eg: to keep a curfew within certain hours; to report to the local police station
once a week; to surrender one’s passport
See further down in the notes for more on conditional bail
Where there is no right to bail
The right to bail under the BA 1976 usually applies only prior to conviction
Only applies when a D appears in court
So no right to bail in the following situations: (pg 43 Manual)
3
, 1. When being arrested
2. When being charged with an offence
3. When a warrant for the arrest of an accused person is issued
4. After conviction for an offence unless:
a. The case is adjourns so that enquiries can be made
b. The D is subsequently brought before a court for breach of an
order
5. If the accused is charged with murder, manslaughter, rape or other
serious sexual offences, and has a previous conviction for those offences,
the court may only grant bail “if there are exceptional circumstances
which justify it”
6. If the accused appears in court charged with an indictable offence, or one
triable either way, and it appears to the court that he or she was already
on bail at the time of the present offence, the court “need not” grant bail
under the BA 1974 s 4
a. D7.25: if already serving custodial sentence does not need to be
granted bail
Street bail:
S 30A PACE – enables a police officers to release a person on bail following their
arrest but prior to their arrival at the police station
The person so bailed is then under the duty to attend at a police station
Custody Time Limits
PURPOSE: to ensure that trials on indictment begin within a reasonable
time (D15.7)
There may be a prescribed time-limit in which the prosecution must complete
the agree of proceedings in question
o No overall time limits currently apply
There are certain limits on the length of time that a D can be kept on remand in
custody, under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985
If it expires the accused must be released on bail (D15.18)
o In relation to the limit related
You are expected to know about this stuff for the exam –
The object is that D’s are not supposed to be kept in custody for ages waiting for
the trial
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, s 22: CTLs apply when D is remanded in custody.
If relevant custody time limit expires, D must be released on bail. Bail may be
subject to certain conditions (e.g. residence) but not surety or security.
Limits NEED TO KNOW
1. Summary offences: 56 days between first court appearance and start of
summary trial.
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