JUSTICES ; ;Committal for sentence justices concluding that the powers to fine defendant insufficient committal to Crown Court for sentence lawful ;R v North East Essex Justices, ex p Lloyd: DC (Lord Woolf CJ and Rafferty J): 14 November 2000 ;The applicant pleaded guilty before justices to an offence contrary to s.216(3) of the Insolvency Act 1986.

The justices concluded that the applicant, who was 68 and of previous good character, should be fined but, thinking that their powers to fine were insufficient for the offence, they committed him to the Crown Court for sentence pursuant to s.38 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980.

The applicant sought judicial review of that decision on the ground that the justices could only commit for sentence under s.38 if they considered that all their powers of punishment, including imprisonment, were insufficient for the offence.

;Robin Howat (instructed by F H Bright & Sons, Witham) for the applicant.

Mark Watson-Gandy (instructed by Thompson Smith & Puxon, Colchester) for the Department of Trade and Industry.

;Held, dismissing the application, that R v Warley Justices, Ex parte Director of Public Prosecutions [1999] 1 WLR 216 did not assist the applicant because it was concerned with justices powers of sentencing to imprisonment rather than with their powers to impose fines; that there was no reason why justices could not take advantage of s.38 if they considered that the appropriate punishment for a defendant was a fine but that their powers to impose a fine were restricted to an amount too low for the particular offence before them; that if justices were minded to commit for sentence on that basis it would be helpful if they intimated that to the defendant so that he could advance any argument he wished to try to persuade them to take a different course; and that if justices were committing for sentence on that basis it would be helpful if they said so because whilst any such statement would not bind the Crown Court it would be extremely valuable for the Crown Court to know the basis on which the committal had been made (WLR).