R Daniel Bukharee v Stratford Magistrates' Court
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Aikens,Mr Justice Nicol |
| Judgment Date | 12 December 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] EWHC 4842 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Date | 12 December 2014 |
| Docket Number | CO/2378/2014 |
[2014] EWHC 4842 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
London
WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Aikens
and
Mr Justice Nicol
CO/2378/2014
The Claimant appeared in person
The Defendant was unrepresented and did not appear
Friday 12 th December 2014
I will ask Mr Justice Nicol to give the first judgment.
This is a renewed application for permission to apply for judicial review of a Warrant of Commitment for non-payment of a compensation order.
The warrant was issued by District Judge Radway sitting at the Stratford Magistrates' Court on 2 nd December 2013. The District Judge committed the claimant to prison for twelve months. That term was ordered to run consecutively to a sentence of 20 months' imprisonment imposed at Isleworth Crown Court on 12 th November 2013 and to a further sentence of four and a half years' imprisonment passed at the same court for 15 offences of fraud. The claimant informed the District Judge that his earliest date of release from the sentences for the criminal offences would be 30 th September 2016. Consequently, this application is not academic, even though it is over a year since the District Judge's decision.
In order to explain the background to the application it is necessary to go even further back in time. In 2006 the applicant was convicted at York Crown Court of a number of counts of obtaining property by deception. In July 2006 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay £54,500 in compensation and £3,500 in costs. Confiscation proceedings were also commenced. Initially, the prosecutor alleged that the benefit figure was £675,816, and that the realisable amount exceeded that sum.
However, by the time the matter came back before York Crown Court the benefit figure was stated to be the much lesser amount of £83,600, and the recoverable amount was likewise said to be £83,600. Accordingly, Mr Recorder Lowe QC made a confiscation order in that amount on 3 rd August 2007. Payment was due by 1 st December 2007. The term of two years' imprisonment was specified as the default period if this sum was not paid.
Unfortunately, the confiscation proceedings had been conducted on the premise that the governing statute was the Criminal Justice Act 1988. That was wrong. All the offences had been committed on or after 4 th June 2003. The governing statute was, in fact, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
The matter came back before Mr Recorder Lowe on 2 nd May 2008. The Recorder thought that he was able to vary his order so as to refer to the 2002 Act instead of the 1988 Act, and he did so. He was wrong. The order had been made much too long in the past for the Recorder to exercise the power under section 155(1) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (then 28 days, now 56 days). He had no other power to do so.
The claimant appealed to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. On 18 th November 2008 the court allowed the appeal. It quashed the order for payment of confiscation under the 1988 Act. It substituted an order for payment of confiscation under the 2002 Act. The amount was the same. The claimant was required to pay it within two months. The default period remained two years: see [2008] EWCA Crim 2915. The compensation order and the order to pay costs were left undisturbed.
The claimant did not pay the confiscation order. On 29 th July 2009 he was committed to serve the default term of two years' imprisonment by Leeds Magistrates' Court. He served that term.
For the chronology that follows, I am grateful to District Judge Radway for the information which he has supplied. In 2010 the claimant was asked about his non-payment of the compensation and costs. He replied that they ought to be paid out of the confiscation sums once they were paid. On 20 th January 2010 the claimant was told that this was not agreed. In March 2010 he said that he would raise the matter with the High Court. He did not do so. On 25 th October 2010 the claimant again said that he considered that the confiscation order encompassed the compensation order, but he offered to pay the compensation in full. He repeated this offer on 27 th October 2010, but he asked for time to pay. He was given six months.
On 26 th April 2011 a solicitor on behalf of the claimant wrote with a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division alleging that an error was made in the court's order in 2008 because it did not stipulate that the compensation should be taken out of any sums paid by way of confiscation. The Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division was not lodged.
Means inquiries were held before magistrates' courts in February 2012 and again in June 2012. On the latter occasion an Attachment of Earnings Order was made, but no payments were received and the court was unable to make contact with the employer.
By August 2012 the claimant was in custody awaiting trial at Isleworth Crown Court. At the hearing at Stratford Magistrates' Court on 2 nd December 2013 the District Judge...
To continue reading
Request your trial