Criminal Litigation

The defendant was granted conditional bail.  The prosecution appealed to the Crown Court.  The judge refused bail and remanded the defendant in custody but did not set a return date for the defendant to appear again before the magistrates’ court. 

Held:  although ss 128 and 128A of the 1980 Act do not directly bind the Crown Court, a defendant should enjoy no lesser rights than he would have done had the prosecutor’s appeal not supervened. 

In the instant case, the Crown Court ought to have deployed the provisions of s 128A(2) and considered whether the claimant should have been remanded for more than eight days. If question was decided in the affirmative, he should have been allowed to make representations.