Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1987
| Year | 1987 |
Northern Ireland(Emergency Provisions) Act1987
1987 CHAPTER 30
An Act to amend the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978; to confer certain rights on persons detained in police custody in Northern Ireland under or by virtue of Part IV of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1984; to regulate the provision of security services there; and for connected purposes.
[15th May 1987]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Provisions) Act 1978Amendments of the Northern Ireland (Emergency
1 Limitation of power to grant bail in case of scheduled offences.
1. The following section shall be substituted for section 2 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978(in this Act referred to as ‘the 1978 Act’)—
2 ‘Limitation of power to grant bail in case of scheduled offences.
(1) Subject to subsection (7) below, a person to whom this section applies shall not be admitted to bail except—
(a) by a judge of the High Court or the Court of Appeal; or
(b) by the judge of the court of trial, on adjourning the trial of a person charged with a scheduled offence.
(2) A judge may, in his discretion, admit to bail in pursuance of subsection (1) above a person to whom this section applies except where he is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that that person, if released on bail (whether subject to conditions or not), would—
(a) fail to surrender to custody, or
(b) commit an offence while on bail, or
(c) interfere with any witness, or
(d) otherwise obstruct or attempt to obstruct the course of justice, whether in relation to himself or in relation to any other person,
or, if released subject to conditions, would fail to comply with all or any of those conditions.
(3) In exercising his discretion in accordance with subsection (2) above in relation to a person, a judge shall have regard to such of the following considerations as appear to him to be relevant, namely—
(a) the nature and seriousness of the offence with which the person is charged,
(b) the character, antecedents, associations and community ties of the person,
(c) the time which the person has already spent in custody and the time which he is likely to spend in custody if he is not admitted to bail, and
(d) the strength of the evidence of his having committed the offence,
as well as to any others which appear to be relevant.
(4) Without prejudice to any other power to impose conditions on admission to bail, a judge may impose such conditions on admitting a person to bail under this section as appear to him to be likely to result in that person's appearance at the time and place required, or to be necessary in the interests of justice or for the prevention of crime.
(5) This section applies, subject to subsection (6) below, to any person—
(a) who is charged with a scheduled offence; and
(b) who has attained the age of fourteen.
(6) This section does not apply to a person charged with a scheduled offence—
(a) which is being tried summarily, or
(b) which the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland certifies is in his opinion suitable to be tried summarily.
(7) Subsection (1) above shall not preclude a resident magistrate from admitting to bail a person to whom this section applies if—
(a) the person is a serving member of any of Her Majesty's forces or a serving member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve, and
(b) the resident magistrate is satisfied that suitable arrangements have been made for the person to be held in military or (as the case may be) police custody, and imposes a condition on admitting him to bail that he is to be held in such custody.’
2 Maximum period of remand in custody in case of scheduled offences.
2. The following section shall be inserted after section 3 of the 1978 Act—
3A ‘Maximum period of remand in custody in case of scheduled offences.
3A. Notwithstanding Article 47(2) and (3) of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, the period for which a person charged with a scheduled offence may be remanded in custody by a magistrates' court shall be a period of not more than 28 days beginning with the day following that on which he is so remanded.’
3 Power of Secretary of State to set time limits in relation to preliminary proceedings for scheduled offences.
3. The following section shall be inserted after section 5 of the 1978 Act—
‘Time limits on preliminary proceedings
5A Power of Secretary of State to set time limits in relation to preliminary proceedings for scheduled offences.
(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision, with respect to any specified preliminary stage of proceedings for a scheduled offence, as to the maximum period—
(a) to be allowed to the prosecution to complete that stage;
(b) during which the accused may, while awaiting completion of that stage, be—
(i) in the custody of a magistrates' court; or
(ii) in the custody of the Crown Court,
in relation to that offence.
(2) The regulations may, in particular—
(a) provide for—
(i) the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981,
(ii) section 2 above, or
(iii) any other enactment, or any rule of law, relating to bail,
to apply in relation to cases to which custody or overall time limits apply subject to such modifications as may be specified (being modifications which the Secretary of State considers necessary in consequence of any provision made by the regulations);
(b) provide for time limits imposed by the regulations to cease to have effect in cases where, after the institution of proceedings for a scheduled offence, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland has certified that the offence in question is not to be treated as a scheduled offence;
(c) make such provision with respect to the procedure to be followed in criminal proceedings as the Secretary of State considers appropriate in consequence of any other provision of the regulations; and
(d) make such transitional provision in relation to proceedings instituted before the commencement of any provision of the regulations as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
(3) Where separate counts of an indictment allege a scheduled offence and an offence which is not a scheduled offence, then (subject to, and in accordance with, the provisions of the regulations) the regulations shall have effect in relation to the latter offence as if it were a scheduled offence.
(4) The Crown Court may, at any time before the expiry of a time limit imposed by the regulations, extend, or further extend, that limit if it is satisfied—
(a) that there is good and sufficient cause for doing so; and
(b) that the prosecution has acted with all due expedition.
(5) Where, in relation to any proceedings for a relevant offence an overall time limit has expired before the completion of the stage of the proceedings to which the limit applies, the accused shall be treated, for all purposes, as having been acquitted of that offence.
(6) Where—
(a) a person escapes from the custody of a magistrates' court or of the Crown Court before the expiry of a custody time limit which applies in his case; or
(b) a person who has been released on bail in consequence of the expiry of a custody time limit—
(i) fails to surrender himself into the custody of the court at the appointed time; or
(ii) is arrested by a constable in connection with any breach, or apprehended breach, of any condition of his bail,
the regulations shall, so far as they provide for any custody time limit in relation to the preliminary stage in question, be disregarded.
(7) Where—
(a) a person escapes from the custody of a magistrates' court or of the Crown Court; or
(b) a person who has been released on bail fails to surrender himself into the custody of the court at the appointed time,
the overall time limit which applies in his case in relation to the stage which the proceedings have reached at the time of the escape or, as the case may be, at the appointed time shall, so far as the relevant offence in question is concerned, cease to have effect.
(8) Where a person is convicted of a relevant offence in any proceedings, the exercise, in relation to any preliminary stage of those proceedings, of the power conferred by subsection (4) above shall not be called into question on any appeal against that conviction.
(9) In this section—
‘custody of the Crown Court’ includes custody to which a person is committed in pursuance of—
(a) Article 37 or 40(4) of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (magistrates' court committing accused for trial); or
(b) section 51(8) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 (magistrates' court dealing with a person brought before it following his arrest in pursuance of a warrant issued by the Crown Court);
‘custody of a magistrates' court’ means custody to which a person is committed in pursuance of Article 47 or 49 of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (remand);
‘custody time limit’ means a time limit imposed by the regulations in pursuance of subsection (1)(b) above or, where any such limit has been extended by the Crown Court under subsection (4) above, the limit as so extended;
‘preliminary stage’, in relation...
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