Time limits, character and harassment charges

Commencement of Proceedings and Section 127 MCA 1980

Criminal proceedings in magistrates’ courts are commenced currently in one of two ways:

n By way of charge followed by either a bail requirement to attend court, or a production at court from police detention.

n By the laying of an information at court followed by the issue of a summons requiring the defendant’s appearance.

As a general rule there is no limitation on the time for commencing proceedings for indictable offences. However in relation to summary offences (ie those offences which may only be tried by a magistrates’ court), proceedings must be commenced by one or other of the above ways within six months from the time when the offence was committed (Section 127 Magistrates Court Act 1980).
While the section refers to the need to lay the information within the time limit, in practice the section and the time limit is taken to apply to a summary offence commenced by charge. In substance the information and the charge, once laid/preferred, perform the same function of commencing the proceedings, by setting out formally the offence that the suspect is alleged to have committed.

In relation to proceedings commenced by charge, time will run from the date when the defendant is charged.

In relation to proceedings begun by information, time begins to run from the day the information is received at the relevant magistrates’ court office (R v Manchester Stipendiary Magistrates, ex parte Hill 1983 AC 328).

From a date yet to be set, the information and summons route to commencing proceedings will be fundamentally curtailed when provisions contained in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA) come into force. Under the new arrangements;

n A public prosecutor, which definition includes the Crown Prosecution Service and all police forces, will no longer have the power to lay an information for the purpose of issuing a summons (Section 29 (4) and (5) CJA).

n Instead a public prosecutor will be able to institute criminal proceedings against a person by issuing a written charge, charging the person with an offence (Section 29 (1) CJA).

n At the same time as issuing the charge the public prosecutor must also issue a written document, known as a requisition, requiring the person to appear at court (Section 29 (2) CJA).

n A copy of the charge and the requisition must be served both on the suspect/
defendant and the court identified in the requisition (Section 29 (3) CJA).

n This power to issue a written charge does not affect the power of the police under PACE to charge a person with an offence, in accordance with the Director’s Guidance, whilst he is in custody (Section 29 (4) CJA).

n In relation to proceedings commenced by the issuing of a charge under the new provisions, time will run from the date of issue.

Harassment

Harassment is an offence contrary to Section 2 Protection of Harassment Act 1997 (‘the Act’). It is a summary offence and therefore subject to the provisions of Section 127 MCA 1980.
Under Section 2 (1) of the Act a person who pursues a course of conduct, which amounts to harassment, and which they know or ought to know amounts to harassment, commits the offence.
A course of conduct must involve conduct on at least two occasions (Section 7 (3) of the Act). Many cases will involve conduct on many more occasions).

Section 2 of the Act was brought into force on June 16, 1997 (Section 15 of the Act and paragraph 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (commencement no 1) Order 1997), and has no retrospective application to any acts or course of conduct, which took place prior to that date.

Where the course of conduct, comprising a number of occasions, spans a period in excess of six months, so that either;

n one occasion only falls within the six-month period prior to commencement of proceedings, or

n some occasions of conduct fall within the six-month period and some outside,
then does Section 1