New Section 4E of the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984: Arrest and detention of persons believed to fall within section 4A(3)
581.New sections 4E(1) to (3) provide for the court to issue a warrant for a person’s arrest on receipt of a certificate issued by the relevant Minister certifying that he considers the person named to be a person falling within section 4A(3), i.e. a person unlawfully at large from a foreign prison sentence who is present in the UK, and that the relevant documentation has been received from the sentencing State concerned. For the purpose of this section it is irrelevant whether or not the person has previously been arrested under section 4D.
582.The court may issue the arrest warrant if the judge is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the person falls within section 4(3). Under new section 4E(4), the arrest warrant may be executed anywhere within the United Kingdom, and the arrested person will be given a copy of the arrest warrant and be brought before the court as soon as is practicable (new section 4E(5)).
583.Under new section 4E(6) the court may, on the application of the relevant Minister, remand the person in custody for a period of 14 days to enable the relevant Minister to determine whether to issue a warrant under section 4A transferring responsibility for the continued enforcement of the person’s sentence and, if so, to issue the warrant.
584.The person must be released no later than at the end of the 14 day period (new section 4E(8)), unless the relevant Minister has issued a warrant under section 4A transferring responsibility for the continued enforcement of the person’s sentence (new section 4E(9)). The court may remand the person in custody for 14 days whether or not a warrant for the person’s arrest was previously issued under this section (new section 4E(10)).
585.It is intended that a person detained under the new procedure in section 4D and 4E would not be detained for more than 21 days while the relevant Minister consults the sentencing State and determines whether or not to issue a warrant to transfer responsibility for the continued enforcement of the prisoner’s sentence. However, the amendments do not preclude a further arrest and order for detention under section 4E where a prisoner has previously been arrested and released under section 4D. For example, a person may be released because the documentation from the foreign State is not received before the expiry of the 7 day detention period in section 4D, but that would not preclude an application for the person’s re-arrest and detention for a 14 day period under section 4E once the documentation has been received.
586.All time spent in custody under section 4D or 4E will be counted as time served and will be deducted from the remaining sentence if a section 4A warrant transferring responsibility for the sentence is issued.
