More on Applications to Rescind the Grant of Bail

A few months ago I wrote about the prosecution's right to make an application to rescind the grant of bail.

What this means is if the Magistrates' Court decides to grant a defendant bail, against the wishes of the prosecution, the prosecution can appeal the decision to the Crown Court.

The bail application is reheard by a Judge at the Crown Court, who can either remand the defendant in custody or grant them bail with any conditions deemed appropriate.

I gave a detailed overview of the process in my earlier article, which interested parties can refer back to.

In my opinion bail decisions are some of the most difficult taken by the court. On the one hand you have the rights of the defendant, who in all likelihood hasn't been convicted at this stage; on the other hand you have the rights of the complainant and wider public.

It is often a very difficult balancing act, but the court carefully considers the circumstances, applies the relevant legislation and makes its decisions in good faith.

Since I wrote my previous article there have been three more occasions where the prosecution has decided to appeal bail decisions I have been involved in.

In my part of the world these applications were virtually unheard of until about a year ago; now I've had first hand experience of four of them in the last six months.

Whenever the prosecution appeals a bail decision I always make a point of following up the outcome at the Crown Court.

In all four of these cases the Crown Court Judge has granted the defendant bail with the same conditions as were imposed by the Magistrates' Court.

Despite being a small sample, to me that suggests the Magistrates' Court, more often than not, is effective in its bail decisions.

It also suggests that the Crown Prosecution Service is becoming a bit less discerning about the bail decisions it appeals.

Bail is a judicial decision.

It should not be an opportunity for the Crown Prosecution Service to trump the will of the court, or display any sort of one-upmanship, unless it has very solid grounds for doing so.