CRIMINAL LITIGATION

Under s 146A(3) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, proceedings for a summary offence may be commenced at any time within six months from the date on which sufficient evidence to warrant the proceedings came to the knowledge of the prosecuting authority.

HELD For these purposes, matters within the knowledge of officers of HM Revenue and Customs are not to be imputed to the director of Revenue and Customs prosecutions, so the period for the commencement of summary proceedings starts only when sufficient evidence to warrant proceedings comes to the attention of the Director or his staff.

Home Office Circular 16/2008— Simple Cautioning of Adult Offenders: This circular, which replaces Home Office Circular 30/2005, provides guidance to the police and prosecutors on the use of the simple caution (and emphasises that simple cautions should generally be used for low-level offending), encourages greater consistency in the use of the simple caution, clarifies how the police and CPS responsibility for simple cautions is affected by the statutory charging scheme, sets out the process of administering a simple caution, emphasises the importance of accurate recording of simple cautions, and provides a standard simple caution pro forma.

Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008: for details of implementation, see http://www. justice.gov.uk/publications/criminal-justice actimplementation. htm.