Criminal Appeal Act 1964
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Criminal Appeal Act 1964
1964 CHAPTER 43
An Act to enable the Court of Criminal Appeal to order new trials in cases of fresh evidence; to make corresponding provision for new trials by court-martial; and for connected purposes.
[10th June 1964]
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:—
1 Power of Court of Criminal Appeal to order new trial.
(1) Where an appeal against conviction is allowed by the Court of Criminal Appeal by reason only of evidence received or available to be received by that Court under section 9 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1907 and it appears to the Court that the interests of justice so require, the Court may, instead of directing the entry of a judgment and verdict of acquittal as required by section 4(2) of that Act, order the appellant to be retried.
(2) An appellant shall not be retried by virtue of this section for any offence other than—
(a ) the offence of which he was convicted at the original trial and in respect of which his appeal is allowed as aforesaid;
(b ) any offence of which he could have been convicted at the original trial on an indictment for the first-mentioned offence; or
(c ) any offence charged in an alternative count of the indictment in respect of which the jury were discharged from giving a verdict in consequence of convicting him of the first-mentioned offence.
2 Supplementary provisions as to new trials.
(1) An appellant who is to be retried for an offence in pursuance of an order under section 1 of this Act shall be tried upon a fresh indictment preferred by the direction of the Court of Criminal Appeal, and shall be tried before such court as the Court of Criminal Appeal may direct (being a court of assize or, if the offence is within the jurisdiction of a court of quarter sessions, a court of quarter sessions) or, if no such direction is given, before the court by which he was originally tried.
(2) The Court of Criminal Appeal may, upon ordering a retrial under section 1 of this Act, make such orders as appear to the Court to be necessary or expedient for the custody or admission to bail of the appellant pending the retrial, or for the retention pending the retrial of any property or money forfeited, restored or paid by virtue of the original conviction or any order made on that conviction.
(3) Where a new trial is ordered under the said section 1 in the case of a person who, immediately before the determination of his appeal, was liable to be detained in pursuance of an order or direction under Part V of the Mental Health Act 1959, that order or direction shall continue in force pending the retrial as if the appeal had not been allowed and any order made by the Court of Criminal Appeal under this section for his custody or admission to bail shall have effect subject to the said order or direction.
(4) Section 1 of the Poor Prisoners' Defence Act 1930 shall apply in the case of an appellant who is to be retried by virtue of an order under section 1 of this Act as if he had been committed for trial for the offence or offences in question, and as if references in section 1(2) of that Act to the committing justices included references to the Court of Criminal Appeal; and if the appellant is acquitted on the retrial, the costs of the defence which may be ordered to be paid out of local funds under section 1 of the Costs in Criminal Cases Act 1952 shall include—
(a ) any costs which could have been ordered to be so paid under that section by the court by which he was originally tried if he had been acquitted at the original trial; and
(b ) if no order was made under section 3(2) or section 4 of that Act in respect of his expenses on appeal, any sums for the payment of which such an order could have been made.
(5) On a retrial ordered under section 1 of this Act, section 13(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 (reading of depositions) shall not apply to the depositions of any person who gave evidence at the original trial; but a transcript of the shorthand notes of the evidence given by any witness at the original trial may, with the leave of the judge, be read as evidence—
(a ) by agreement between the prosecution and the defence; or
(b ) if the judge is satisfied that the witness is dead or unfit to give evidence or to attend for that purpose, or that all reasonable efforts to find him or to secure his attendance have been made without success:
and in either case may be so read without further proof if verified in accordance with rules of court.
3 Provisions as to sentence in case of conviction on retrial.
(1) Where a person ordered to be retried under section 1 of this Act is again convicted on the retrial, the court before whom he is convicted may pass in respect of the offence any sentence authorised by law, not being a sentence of greater severity than that passed on the original conviction.
(2) Without prejudice to its power to impose any other sentence, the court before whom an offender is convicted on retrial may pass in respect of the offence any sentence passed in respect of that offence on the original conviction notwithstanding that, on the date of the conviction on retrial, the offender has ceased to be of an age at which such a sentence could otherwise be passed.
(3) Where the person convicted on retrial is sentenced to imprisonment or other detention, the sentence shall begin to run from the time when a like sentence passed at the original trial would have begun to run; but in computing the term of his sentence or the period for which he may be detained thereunder, as the case may be, there shall be disregarded—
(a ) any time before his conviction on retrial which would have been disregarded in computing that term or period if the sentence had been passed at the original trial and the original conviction had not been quashed; and
(b ) any time during which he was at large after being admitted to bail under section 2(2) of this Act.
(4) Section 17(2) of the Criminal Justice Administration Act 1962 (deduction from certain sentences of time in custody before sentence) shall apply to any sentence imposed on conviction on retrial as if it had been imposed on the original conviction.
4 Provisions as to retrial by court-martial.
4. The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for authorising retrial by court-martial in cases of fresh evidence, and for the purposes of such retrials.
5 Consequential and minor amendments.
5. The enactments specified in Schedule 2 to this Act shall have effect subject to the amendments set out in that Schedule, being amendments consequential on the foregoing provisions of this Act and minor amendments.
6 Short title, construction, extent and commencement.
(1) This Act may be cited as the Criminal Appeal Act 1964.
(2) This Act, so far as it relates to appeals to and retrials ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal, shall be construed as one with the Criminal...
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