Chapter 3 – Double Jeopardy
152.This Chapter provides for the barring of service proceedings by the outcome of previous service or civilian proceedings, and the barring of civilian proceedings by the outcome of previous service proceedings.
Section 63: Service proceedings barring subsequent service proceedings
153.This section bars the trial or hearing of a charge of a service offence if the accused has previously been convicted or acquitted of the offence charged, or has had it taken into consideration when being sentenced for another offence. The section also applies where the two offences are not identical but are related in one of the ways specified in subsection (3).
Section 64: Service proceedings barring subsequent civilian proceedings
154.This section bars the trial of a charge by a civilian court in the UK or the Isle of Man if the accused has previously been convicted or acquitted of an offence under section 42 (criminal conduct) or has had such an offence taken into consideration when being sentenced, and, under the double jeopardy rules of the jurisdiction in which the court sits (i.e. England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man, as the case may be), the trial would be barred if he had been convicted or acquitted by an English court of the corresponding civilian offence.
Section 65: Sections 63 and 64: supplementary
155.This section provides for the application of sections 63 and 64 where the DSP makes a direction under section 127 barring future proceedings.
Section 66: Civilian proceedings barring subsequent service proceedings
156.This section bars the trial or hearing of a charge of an offence under section 42 if, under the double jeopardy rules of England and Wales, a civilian court could not try a charge of the corresponding civilian offence (because the accused has previously been convicted or acquitted of that offence or a related offence). The section similarly bars the trial or hearing of a charge of any other service offence which requires proof of an offence under English law if the accused could not be tried for the civilian offence because he has previously been acquitted of it.
