CRIMINAL LITIGATION

The court considered a number of issues relating to bail and sureties, holding that:

(i)                   the jurisdiction of the magistrates to grant bail does not extend beyond the first occasion on which a defendant surrenders to the crown court;

(ii)                 it is both possible and lawful for a recognizance in crown court proceedings to be expressed as continuous until the conclusion of proceedings in the crown court;

(iii)                an order varying the conditions of bail, unconnected with the sureties in question, does not give rise to the need for sureties to be taken afresh;

(iv)                assuming that a defendant on bail is then allowed to continue on bail, whether on the same or varied terms, that amounts to a fresh grant of bail;

(v)                  provided the recognizances were in terms which made it clear that they continued to bind the surety until the end of the trial, they remain in force so long as bail is granted