Criminal Procedure Rules
Notes to accompany 2nd update, March 2006
Changes made by the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2006
Amended forms of application and order for preparatory hearing
Amended form of notice of intention to introduce hearsay evidence
Changes made by the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2006
All the rule changes come into force on 3rd April, 2006. The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee has decided ordinarily to make changes to the Criminal Procedure Rules in December and in June of each year, so that the amendments can come into force in April and in October.
The Amendment Rules add the following new rules to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2005:
- a new Part 15 (preparatory hearings in cases of serious fraud and other complex, serious or lengthy cases in the Crown Court), in substitution for the old Part 15. The new rules allow for applications for preparatory hearings on the ground that the prosecutor wants the court to order that the trial should be without a jury under sections 43 or 44 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, and they condense and simplify the old rules.
- a new Part 18 (warrants), in substitution for the old Part 18, which simplifies the rules on warrants in that Part.
- a new rule 39.2 (appeal against refusal to excuse from jury service or to defer attendance), which adopts former rule 25 of the Crown Court Rules 1982 into the Criminal Procedure Rules. (The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee now is responsible for these rules because of amendments to the Juries Act 1974 made by the Courts Act 2003.)
- a new rule 57.15 (external requests and orders) which applies the rules in Parts 57, 59, 60, 61 and 71 to proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005. (That Order reproduces, with modifications, provisions of Part 2 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 so that they will apply to requests from some foreign states for confiscation or restraint orders to be made against the proceeds of crimes committed in those states and found in the U.K.)
- a new rule 65.11 (appeal against order following discharge of jury because of jury tampering), which applies the rules in Part 65 to appeals under section 47 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
In addition, the Amendment Rules make the following alterations to existing Criminal Procedure Rules:
- rule 34.1 (hearsay evidence: when this Part applies) is amended to confine the application of Part 34 (hearsay evidence) to cases where the evidence is admissible on one or more of the following grounds, namely where (a) it is in the interests of justice for it to be admissible, (b) the witness is unavailable to attend, (c) the evidence is contained in a business or other document, or (d) the evidence is multiple hearsay. The old rule required a hearsay evidence notice in every case in which hearsay evidence was being introduced. The requirement applied even when advance warning already had been given in some other way and even when the introduction of the hearsay evidence had been agreed. In those cases rule 34.8 allowed for the notice requirement to be waived. However, the Committee accepted that in practice rule 34.8 was not being used as intended and that it was better to limit the notice requirement to the four cases listed above.
- rule 35.2 (introducing evidence of non-defendant’s bad character) is amended to require an application to introduce the previous convictions of a prosecution witness within 14 days of the date when the prosecutor discloses those convictions, instead of within 14 days of the date when the prosecutor complies or purports to comply with the initial duty of disclosure under section 3 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, as the old rule said. The Committee accepted that the disclosure of any prosecution witness’ convictions might not be made until after the defence case statement put that witness’ character in issue.
- rule 35.6 (defendant’s application to exclude evidence of his own bad character) is amended to extend the time limit from 7 days to 14 days. The Committee accepted that the time limit under the old rule was almost always impractical.
- Part 66 (appeal to the Court of Appeal against ruling adverse to prosecution) is amended to make clear that the Registrar must not give any notice about the appeal to a defendant or an interested party where the appeal concerns a public interest ruling, unless a judge or the Court of Appeal otherwise directs.
- Part 68 (appeal to the Court of Appeal against conviction or sentence) and Part 74 (appeal to the House of Lords) are amended so that the rules in those Parts apply to appeals under paragraph 14 of Schedule 22 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003. That paragraph gives a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal against a decision of the High Court in a case where, before the new law about life sentences in Part 12 of that Act came into force, the Home Secretary had decided how long a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment should serve before being released on licence, and the prisoner has had that decision reviewed by the High Court.
Finally, the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee took the opportunity to make some minor editorial corrections to the Rules and to bring up to date some cross references in them. These amendments affect:
- the notes that follow rule 3.11, rule 4.3, rule 34.1 and rule 68.20.
- the list of contents in Part 41 and in Part 57.
- rule 66.12(3).
- rule 68.3(1).
Amended forms of application and order for preparatory hearing
A revised application form has been introduced to take account of the changes to Part 15.
Amended form of notice of intention to introduce hearsay evidence
A revised application form has been introduced to take account of the changes to rule 34.1.
New form of application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division against a life sentence detention decision by the High Court
A revised application form has been introduced to take account of the changes to Part 68.