Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

Prospective

Custody, detention etc N.I.

Provisions as to custody, detention etc N.I.

294—(1) A person who is—

(a) being removed from any place, or taken to or detained in any place, by virtue of Part 9 (power of police to remove person to place of safety), or

(b) being taken to or detained in any place by virtue of Part 10 (criminal justice),

is to be treated as being in legal custody.

(2) Subsection (3) applies to a constable or other person (“the relevant person”) who is required or authorised by virtue of Part 9 or 10 to—

(a) take a person into custody;

(b) take a person to any place; or

(c) detain a person in any place.

(3) For the purposes of—

(a) taking the person into custody,

(b) taking the person to the place, or

(c) detaining the person in the place,

the relevant person has all the powers, authorities, protections and privileges which a constable has within the area for which he or she acts as constable.

(4) Nothing in subsection (3) affects any other power, or authority to do an act, that the relevant person (or any other person) may have.

Retaking of persons escaping from legal custody N.I.

295—(1) Where a person (“P”) who is in legal custody by virtue of section 294 escapes, P may be retaken into legal custody by any person mentioned in subsection (2).

(2) The persons are—

(a) the person who had custody of P immediately before the escape;

(b) any constable or approved social worker;

(c) if P was liable to be detained in an appropriate establishment by virtue of Part 9 or 10 at the time of the escape (or was, under Part 9 or 10, being taken to or from an appropriate establishment)—

(i) any person on the staff of the appropriate establishment;

(ii) any person authorised in writing by the managing authority of the appropriate establishment.

(3) But P may not be retaken under this section after P has ceased to be liable to be detained by virtue of Part 9 or 10.

(4) Nothing in subsection (3) prevents section 139 (power to remove person from public place to place of safety) from applying in relation to P at any time after the escape.

(5) In this section “appropriate establishment” has the meaning given by section 167.

(6) Nothing in subsection (1) affects any other power, or authority to do an act, that a person mentioned in subsection (2) (or any other person) may have.