Determination of charge within reasonable time - stay of indictment on ground of delay - commencement of relevant time period

Attorney-General's reference no 2 of 2001: HL (Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Steyn, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Millett, Lord Scott of Foscote and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry): 11 December 2003

Following a determination of two points of law referred to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) by the Attorney-General [2001] 1 WLR 1869, the Court of Appeal referred the matter to the House of Lords, pursuant to section 36(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1972.

The points were: '(1) Whether criminal proceedings may be stayed on the ground that there has been a violation of the reasonable time requirement in article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights in circumstances where the accused cannot demonstrate any prejudice arising from the delay.

(2) In the determination of whether, for the purposes of article 6(1) of the Convention, a criminal charge has been heard within a reasonable time, when does the relevant time period commence?' The points arose form the acquittal of a defendant following delay in bringing his case to trial.

Ben Emmerson QC, Tom Watson and Danny Friedman (Canter Levin & Berg, Liverpool) for the acquitted person; David Perry and Adina Ezekiel (Crown Prosecution Service, HQ) for the Attorney-General; Hugo Keith and Clair Dobbin (Treasury Solicitor)as advocates to the court.

Held, (Lord Hope of Craighead and Lord Rodger of Earlsferry dissenting as to the answer to the first question) that criminal proceedings might be stayed on the ground that there had been a violation of the reasonable time requirement in article 6(1) of the convention only if a fair hearing was no longer possible, or it was for any compelling reason unfair to try the defendant; that in the determination of whether, for the purposes of article 6(1) of the convention, a criminal charge had been heard within a reasonable time, the relevant time period commenced at the earliest time at which a defendant was officially alerted to the likelihood of criminal proceedings against him, which in England and Wales would ordinarily be when he was charged or served with a summons.

(WLR)