Sentencing Act 2020

Breach of community requirement: duty to give warning or refer to home court

18 (1) This paragraph applies where the relevant officer is of the opinion that the offender has without reasonable excuse breached a community requirement of the order.

(2) If the offender has been given a relevant warning within the previous 12 months in relation to a breach of any community requirement of the order, the officer must—

(a) if the order is an SSSO, provide information to the home court with a view to it issuing a citation, or

(b) if the order is an NISSO, make a complaint to a lay magistrate in Northern Ireland.

(3) Otherwise the officer must—

(a) give the offender a warning under this paragraph,

(b) if the order is an SSSO, provide information to the home court with a view to it issuing a citation, or

(c) if the order is an NISSO, make a complaint to a lay magistrate in Northern Ireland.

(4) A warning under this paragraph must—

(a) describe the circumstances of the breach,

(b) state that the breach is unacceptable, and

(c) inform the offender that if the offender again breaches a requirement of the order within the next 12 months, the offender will be liable to be brought before a court.

(5) As soon as practicable after giving a warning under this paragraph, the relevant officer must record that fact.

(6) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2), a relevant warning is a warning under—

(a) this paragraph, or

(b) paragraph 6 of Schedule 16 (corresponding provision for order not transferred to Scotland or Northern Ireland).

(7) If the suspended sentence order is amended under paragraph 35 (transfer back to England and Wales), the reference in paragraph 6(2) of Schedule 16 to a previous warning under paragraph 6 of that Schedule includes a reference to a warning under this paragraph.