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R. (Chief Constable of Greater Manchester) v Salford Magistrates’ Court and Hookway [2011] EWHC 1578 (Admin)

Friday 29 July 2011 at 3:37 pm | In News | Post Comment

[Police – bail – court – procedure – legislation]
D, the Manchester police appealed against a High Court decision that had caused consternation in the police and the Home Office. A magistrate had ruled that the detention clock did not stop running when a suspect was bailed; which was universally understood by all police forces to be the case. The ruling was upheld by the High Court.

Held: A question was certified by the High Court, and very unusually for a criminal case, there was a leap-frog appeal to the Supreme Court. Mr Hookway who was a Respondent to the Supreme Court proceedings, withdrew from the appeal, because on 12 July 2011 the Police (Detention and Bail) Act 2011 received Royal Assent. The effect of the 2011 Act is to amend PACE to make clear that any periods spent by an arrested person on police bail shall not be counted when calculating the total period of time spent by an arrested person in police detention before charge. That is, to give clear statutory authority for the orthodoxy of the past – i.e. the practice adopted by police officers prior to the decision of the High Court.

The Act purports to be retrospective, again this is extremely rare.
The matter is closed.