Prison Act 1952

Section 29.

FIRST SCHEDULE Registration of Address and Reporting at Police Stations by Discharged Prisoners

1 (1) Any person to whom this Schedule applies shall—

(a) register at an appointed police station in any police area in which he is from time to time residing the address of his residence;

(b) report once in each month, on such day as may be directed by or on behalf of the chief officer of police, at the police station at which his address for the time being is registered.

(2) Where any person to whom this Schedule applies changes his residence, he shall, on registering his new address under this paragraph, state the address which was last registered by him thereunder.

(3) Any such registration and report as aforesaid shall be effected in person before the officer in charge of the police station:

Provided that any such report may, if permission in that behalf is granted by or on behalf of the chief officer of police, be made in writing.

2 (1) If any person fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any of the requirements of the preceding paragraph, he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months;

Provided that:

(a) in proceedings for a failure to register an address it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove either that—

(i) being on a journey to a particular destination he remained no longer in the place in which he failed to register his address than was reasonably necessary for the purposes of that journey; or

(ii) his absence from his registered address was temporary and that he kept the officer in charge of the police station at which that address was registered sufficiently informed of his whereabouts; and

(b) in proceedings for a failure to report it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove that, being temporarily absent from his registered address on the day on which he was directed to report, he personally presented himself and reported on that day at a police station within the police area in which he then was and stated his registered address.

(2) A person to whom this Schedule applies who is reasonably suspected of having committed an offence under this paragraph may be arrested without warrant by any constable.

(3) A person charged with an offence under this paragraph may be tried in the place in which he was arrested or in the place in which the offence is alleged to have been committed or, if the offence consists of a failure to report in writing to a police station, in the place in which the police station is situated

3 (1) Any appointment, direction or permission purporting to be signed by or on behalf of a chief officer of police and to have been made or given for the purposes of this Schedule shall, in proceedings under the last preceding paragraph of this Schedule, be evidence that the appointment, direction or permission thereby made or given was duly made or given by or on behalf of the chief officer of police.

(2) A certificate purporting to be signed by an officer in charge of a police station and certifying that it appears from the records kept at that police station that a person has failed to register an address or make a report or has registered a particular address at that police station shall, in any such proceedings as aforesaid, be evidence of the facts so certified.

(3) A certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and certifying that he has received a notice given pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section twenty-nine of this Act to the effect that a person has failed to comply with any requirement under that subsection shall, in any such proceedings as aforesaid, be evidence of the notice having been duly given and of the contents of the notice.

4 (1) For the purposes of this Schedule, a person shall be deemed to reside at any house or other place of whatever description at which he spends a night.

(2) In this Schedule the following expressions have the following meanings:—

• " Appointed police station " means a police station appointed for the purposes of this Schedule by the chief officer of police of the police area in which the police station is situated;

• " Chief officer of police " and " police area " have the same meaning respectively as in section thirty of the Police Pensions Act, 1921;

• " Registered address ", in relation to any person, means the address which is for the time being the address last registered by him in accordance with this Schedule.

5 It shall be the duty of a chief officer of police to appoint a sufficient number of police stations in his area for the purposes of this Schedule.