Freedom of Information Request Reference No:
I note you seek access to the following information:
All standard operating procedures, local policy, national policy, any guidance,
any of the policies or guidance issued by the home office, ACPO, National
College of Policing, Territorial Policing Directorate, Emerald Bail Management
Directorate, any document by these departments in any format whatsoever kept
or distributed in order to facilitate the duties of custody sergeants or front line
officers that RELATE TO LAPSED OR EXPIRED BAIL, ISSUING A NEW BAIL
DATE FOR A SUSPECT WHO'S BAIL HAS LAPSED OR EXPIRED WITHOUT
EXTENSION FOR OVER 5 WEEKS.
FOR EXAMPLE
A suspect who is bailed to return on the 1 August 2016 is told that investigations
are on going, however the Officer in the Case will make contact later on in the
day to give a new bail date.
The officer fails to make contact, and some 5 weeks expires. The bail has now
lapsed and the suspect is no longer on bail, and any conditions attached have
also ceased to exist.
What is the policy in terms of re-bailing, if the suspect is no longer on bail, how
would the met police put the suspect back on bail without being able to arrest for
new evidence or new allegation. What is the policy for Expired or Lapsed bail.
Further
IF the suspect attends on request by police for interview, would the suspect be
attending on a VOLUNTARY basis, bearing in mind that bail expired and not
extended some 5 weeks prior.
FINALLY
Please confirm in your disclosure if Officers in the Case have discretion whether
they can chose to put a suspect on pre-charge bail. There should be no grey
areas
Please supply as requested in paragraph 1 all documents that would reveal
these answers to all the questions raised in this request.
DECISION
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below the information pursuant to your request above.
Please note that the MPS can respond to the FOIA in terms of its own policies
and guidance, but cannot respond on behalf of the Home Office, ACPO or the
College of Policing. You will have to contact those organisations to request the
information they have on the subject requested.
To answer this FOIA application we have to refer to legislation, not MPS policy,
namely the Bail Act 1976. Within the act, there is no provision for 'lapsed or
expired bail,' it is clearly an offence under Section 6 Bail Act 1976.
You state in the above example; 'The bail has now lapsed and the suspect is no
longer on bail....’ This is not the case as a suspect doesn't change their status as
a person on bail simply by failing to appear. A person remains on police bail until
they surrender to a police station. Section 3(1) of the Bail Act 1976 states;
3(1) A person granted bail in criminal proceedings shall be under a duty to
surrender to custody, and that duty is enforceable in accordance with section 6 of
this Act.
Section 6 of the Bail Act 1976 states;
Section 6 of the Bail Act 1976 creates two offences of failing to answer bail to
court or a police station.
6(1) If a person who has been released on bail in criminal proceedings fails
without reasonable cause to surrender to custody he shall be guilty of an offence.
6(2) If a person who (a) has been released on bail in criminal proceedings, and
(b) having reasonable cause therefore, has failed to surrender to custody,
fails to surrender to custody at the appointed place as soon after the appointed
time as is reasonably practicable he is guilty of an offence.
6(3) It shall be for the accused to prove that he had reasonable cause for his
failure to surrender to custody.
6(4) A failure to give a person granted bail in criminal proceedings a copy of the
record of the decision shall not constitute a reasonable cause for that person's
failure to surrender to custody.
When deciding upon a disposal outcome for an offence under Section 6 Bail Act
1976, the officer in the case should only consider this offence where the offender
had a reasonable excuse for not answering his bail and then failed to surrender
as soon as practicable or simply failed to answer their bail.
So, in the example above, where the suspect believes that he should be
communicated with by the officer in the case, but no such communication is
received, the duty still remains on that suspect to answer to those bail
requirements, i.e. to surrender at the date, time and place told. The suspect does
not protect themselves from an offence under Section 6 of the Bail Act 1976 by
not turning up as a result of perceived communication by the officer in the case,
however, Section 6(3) above puts the onus of proof onto the accused that they
had reasonable cause to fail to surrender to custody.
Further
IF the suspect attends on request by police for interview, would the suspect be
attending on a VOLUNTARY basis, bearing in mind that bail expired and not
extended some 5 weeks prior.
Again, the mere fact that the suspect has failed to surrender does not mean that
they are no longer on police bail. They are still a suspect in the case and are still
on bail and therefore would not be attending on a voluntary basis, they would be
answering to police bail, albeit late and therefore possibly arrestable and/or
subject to proceedings under s.6 Bail Act 1976.
Section 46A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 creates a specific
power of arrest for persons not answering their bail back to a police station or
breaching a condition of police bail granted under section 37, 37C(2)(b) or
37CA(2)(b).
46A(1) A constable may arrest without a warrant any person who, having been
released on bail under this Part of this Act subject to a duty to attend at a police
station, fails to attend at that police station at the time appointed for him to do so.
FINALLY
Please confirm in your disclosure if Officers in the Case have discretion whether
they can chose to put a suspect on pre-charge bail. There should be no grey
areas
Again, legislation, not policy. Section 37 (2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence
Act 1984 (PACE) states:
If the custody officer determines that he does not have such evidence before
him, the person arrested shall be released either on bail or without bail, unless
the custody officer has reasonable grounds for believing that his detention
without being charged is necessary to secure or preserve evidence relating to an
offence for which he is under arrest or to obtain such evidence by questioning
him.
So here legislation states that the decision to bail, or not, is the custody officer
who determines/decides on releasing the suspect either with or without bail, not
the officer in the case. The legislation does not mention discretion.
All of the above legislation is freely available on open source media, namely
www.legislation.gov.uk .Legislation is passed as a bill through Parliament, either
starting in the House of Lords or House of Commons before becoming an Act of
Parliament (law).
Information Rights Unit