5.8.—(1) This rule—
(a)applies where a member of the public, including a reporter, wants information about a case from the court officer;
(b)requires the court officer to publish information about cases due to be heard.
(2) A person who wants information about a case from the court officer must—
(a)apply to the court officer;
(b)specify the information requested; and
(c)pay any fee prescribed.
(3) The application—
(a)may be made orally, giving no reasons, if paragraph (4) requires the court officer to supply the information requested;
(b)must be in writing, unless the court otherwise permits, and must explain for what purpose the information is required, in any other case.
(4) The court officer must supply to the applicant—
(a)any information listed in paragraph (6), if—
(i)the information is available to the court officer,
(ii)the supply of the information is not prohibited by a reporting restriction, and
(iii)the trial has not yet concluded, or the verdict was not more than 6 months ago; and
(b)details of any reporting or access restriction ordered by the court.
(5) The court officer must supply that information—
(a)by word of mouth; or
(b)by such other arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs.
(6) The information that paragraph (4) requires the court officer to supply is—
(a)the date of any hearing in public, unless any party has yet to be notified of that date;
(b)each alleged offence and any plea entered;
(c)the court’s decision at any hearing in public, including any decision about—
(i)bail, or
(ii)the committal, sending or transfer of the case to another court;
(d)whether the case is under appeal;
(e)the outcome of any trial and any appeal; and
(f)the identity of—
(i)the prosecutor,
(ii)the defendant,
(iii)the parties’ representatives, including their addresses, and
(iv)the judge, magistrate or magistrates, or justices’ legal adviser by whom a decision at a hearing in public was made.
(7) If the court so directs, the court officer must—
(a)supply to the applicant, by word of mouth, other information about the case; or
(b)allow the applicant to inspect or copy a document, or part of a document, containing information about the case.
(8) The court may determine an application to which paragraph (7) applies—
(a)at a hearing, in public or in private; or
(b)without a hearing.
(9) The court officer must publish the information listed in paragraph (11) if—
(a)the information is available to the court officer;
(b)the hearing to which the information relates is due to take place in public; and
(c)the publication of the information is not prohibited by a reporting restriction.
(10) The court officer must publish that information—
(a)by notice displayed somewhere prominent in the vicinity of the court room in which the hearing is due to take place;
(b)by such other arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs, including arrangements for publication by electronic means; and
(c)for no longer than 2 business days.
(11) The information that paragraph (9) requires the court officer to publish is—
(a)the date, time and place of the hearing;
(b)the identity of the defendant; and
(c)such other information as it may be practicable to publish concerning—
(i)the type of hearing,
(ii)the identity of the court,
(iii)the offence or offences alleged, and
(iv)whether any reporting restriction applies.
[Note. Rule 5.8(4) requires the court officer to supply on request the information to which that paragraph refers. On an application for other information about a case, rule 5.8(3)(b), (7) and (8) apply and the court’s decision on such an application may be affected by—
(a)any reporting restriction imposed by legislation or by the court (Part 6 lists the reporting restrictions that might apply);
(b)Articles 6, 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the court’s duty to have regard to the importance of—
(i)dealing with criminal cases in public, and
(ii)allowing a public hearing to be reported to the public;
(c)the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974(1) (section 5 of the Act(2) lists sentences and rehabilitation periods);
(d)section 18 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996(3), which affects the supply of information about material, other than evidence, disclosed by the prosecutor;
(e)the Data Protection Act 1998(4) (sections 34 and 35 of the Act contain relevant exemptions from prohibitions against disclosure that usually apply); and
(f)sections 33, 34 and 35 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012(5), which affect the supply of information about applications for legal aid.]
1974 c. 53; section 5 was amended by section 15 of, and paragraphs 77 and 78 of Schedule 4 to, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) and by sections 126 and 139 of, and paragraph 2 of Schedule 21 to, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10).