Criminal Justice Act 2003

Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (c. 23)

57 (1) The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 7A (powers of non-legal staff), for subsection (6) there is substituted—

“(6) This section applies to an offence if it is triable only on indictment or is an offence for which the accused has been sent for trial.”

(3) In section 16 (defence costs)—

(a) in subsection (1), paragraph (b) is omitted, and

(b) in subsection (2)—

(i) in paragraph (a), for “committed” there is substituted “sent”, and

(ii) paragraph (aa) is omitted, and

(c) subsection (12) is omitted.

(4) In section 21 (interpretation), in subsection (6)(b), for “committed” there is substituted “sent”.

(5) In section 22 (power of Secretary of State to set time limits in relation to preliminary stages of criminal proceedings), in subsection (11)—

(a) in paragraph (a) of the definition of “appropriate court”, for “committed for trial, sent for trial under section 51 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998” there is substituted “sent for trial”,

(b) for the definition of “custody of the Crown Court” there is substituted—

““custody of the Crown Court” includes custody to which a person is committed in pursuance of—

(a) section 43A of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (magistrates' court dealing with a person brought before it following his arrest in pursuance of a warrant issued by the Crown Court); or

(b) section 52 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (provisions supplementing section 51);”.

(6) In section 23 (discontinuance of proceedings in magistrates' court), in subsection (2), for paragraphs (a) to (c) there is substituted—

“(a) any stage of the proceedings after the court has begun to hear evidence for the prosecution at a summary trial of the offence; or

(b) any stage of the proceedings after the accused has been sent for trial for the offence.”

(7) In section 23A (discontinuance of proceedings after accused has been sent for trial)—

(a) in paragraph (b) of subsection (1), the words from “under” to “1998” are omitted, and

(b) in subsection (2), for “51(7)” there is substituted “51D(1)”.