272.Section 218 is to be read in conjunction with section 156(2)(b). Its effect is that a person may be committed to the Crown Court for confiscation following a conviction of any offence, indictable or summary, in the magistrates’ court. Where the prosecutor asks the magistrates’ court to do so, the court must commit the defendant to the Crown Court for confiscation. The power to have a person committed for confiscation is granted only to the prosecutor, not to the Director. In practice, the prosecutor and the Director may consult in such cases, and the Director may assume responsibility for the subsequent confiscation proceedings in the Crown Court.
273.There is one distinct difference between this section and its equivalent section for England and Wales, section 70. It relates to the existing power of a magistrates’ court in England and Wales to commit a defendant who is convicted of an offence which is triable either way to the Crown Court for sentence. There is no comparable power in Northern Ireland.