Everything you wanted to know about bail, perhaps. If you do arrestable actions, you may well end up on bail. This briefing attempts to untangle the different varieties of bail and bail conditions etc, and may also be helpful if you have to negotiate with police or courts about getting bail or changing bail conditions.
Note that this briefing is only intended to provide the legal situation, so that you can decide how to react to being on bail or having bail conditions etc. Use your imagination and conscience, and discuss strategies with your affinity group — don’t be bound by any advice implied in this briefing.
“I’m on bail. What does it mean?”
It means you’ve been released, but you probably already know that!
It also means that you have to turn up at a specified police station or court, and at a specified date and time. The details should be on the bail notice that you have been given. (Ask for a record of the bail decision if it is not given to you automatically.)
“What happens if I don’t turn up?”
You could be arrested at any time. You will then be taken to court (within 24 hours, excluding Sundays), where you will be either released (probably with bail conditions), or remanded in custody until your trial.
Not turning up (legally, not ‘surrendering to custody’) at the police station or court is called absconding and is itself an offence, subject to a fairly large fine or short prison sentence. This is a separate offence from the one you’ve been bailed for. If you have ‘reasonable cause’ for not turning up, that’s OK, so long as you turn up as soon as is reasonably practicable. But note that it’s up to you to prove that you had reasonable cause if you don’t turn up.
In addition, not turning up for bail can give you a ‘bad bail record’, which could count against you for future arrests, making it easier for the police or courts to refuse bail.
“Will I have to ‘behave myself’ while on bail?”
In certain circumstances, you may be given extra bail conditions, e.g. not to go to a particular place (like a military base) or to report to a police station regularly. See the separate section on bail conditions below. Apart from any specific conditions imposed, there are no ‘general’ or ‘standard’ bail conditions (unlike Scotland).
“Will I keep my passport/be able to travel while on bail?”
Normally, yes. But a passport could be required as a security, “if it appears that [you are] unlikely to remain in Great Britain.” In this case, money or other valuables (including a passport) can be taken from you before you get released. When you turn up at the specified police station or court, you will get the money back. If you don’t turn up, you’ll lose it. Note that Scotland is part of Great Britain, so it’s OK to go there.
Note that the police don’t need ‘reasonable grounds’ for taking a security, but a court must perceive a “real, not a fanciful risk” for taking one, and you could argue that the same applies to the police.[note] In any case, I know of no TPers who have had to surrender their passport or give securities to get bail so far.
“Will anyone have to ‘vouch’ for me before I get bail?”
Not normally. But the police or a court can require you to provide one or more sureties before granting bail. A ‘surety’ is someone who agrees to be liable for a sum of money if you don’t turn up. So long as you turn up, the person acting as a surety won’t have to pay anything. But if you don’t turn up, then the surety will have to pay a sum of money. (Again, this hasn’t (?) been used for ‘offences’ by TPers so far.)
There are two main kinds of bail. If you have not been charged, you may be bailed to go to a police station. If you have been charged, you will probably be bailed to turn up at a Magistrates’ court.
Bail to return to a police station
Instead of charging you after arrest, the police may release you on bail, subject to a duty to turn up at a particular police station on a particular date. This means that they are still investigating the offence, and/or haven’t decided whether to charge you yet. In this case, the police cannot impose bail conditions.
When you turn up, they will either release you without charge (i.e. drop the whole case), or charge you, or may put you back on bail to come back to the police station later. They may also interview you at the police station.
The police can notify you in advance that you don’t have to turn up, and it is worth while telephoning them beforehand to check whether they still need you.
Note that, for the purpose of working out how long the police can detain you, the length of time that you were in custody when first arrested is added to any detention when you return on bail. This affects both how long you can be held (24 hours without charge, except with the authorisation of a Superintendent or a warrant of further detention from a court), and the system of reviews of detention (after 6 hours, then every 9 hours, by an Inspector if you’ve not yet been charged).
Bail to go to court after charge
If you are charged while at the police station (either when first arrested, or after returning to the police station when on bail as above), you will normally be given a date to turn up at a Magistrates’ court and then released on bail.[note]
The court date will be for a ‘plea’ hearing. When you turn up at court, you will be able to plead ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’, or you may be able to ask to adjourn the case without pleading at all, especially if you’ve not been able to speak to a solicitor.[note] If you plead ‘guilty’, you may be sentenced on the spot, or the court may fix another date for sentencing. If you plead ‘not guilty’, then a date will be fixed for a trial, or possibly for a ‘pre-trial review’ if it’s a more complicated case. You may be able to plead ‘not guilty’ by post.[note] You can use a solicitor for the plea hearing if you want: whether you use a solicitor or not, doesn’t affect your right to use the same or another solicitor (or none) for the actual trial. In any case, please contact Trident Ploughshares (TP) legal support as soon as possible after release.
Note that the police can arrest you without a warrant, if you are on bail to come to a court, and they have reasonable grounds for believing that you are not likely to turn up. So if you tell the police that you are not going to turn up at court, they could theoretically arrest you at any time, even before you are due to turn up.
The police or a court can impose conditions on you before granting bail (but only once you’ve been charged). These conditions usually take the form of saying that you cannot go to a particular place, or that you have to reside at a particular address or report regularly to a police station.
“What happens if I break my bail conditions?”
You may be arrested. In fact, you may be arrested (without a warrant), if a policeman has reasonable grounds either for believing that you are likely to break any of your bail conditions, or for suspecting that you have broken any of your bail conditions. In any case, you should be taken to court within 24 hours.[note]
Breaking bail conditions is not in itself an offence, but you may receive harsher bail conditions from a court if you have broken them (or if the court believes that you have broken or are likely to break them). You may also not be granted bail by the court, in which case you will be held on remand until your trial. In addition, it may be harder to get bail if you are arrested for the same offence in future.
Negotiating bail conditions with the police
The police should give reasons for imposing conditions and should give you a copy of a note of those reasons. The reasons should also be recorded in your ‘custody record’ (which you are entitled to ask for a copy of after you have been released), so make sure that this is done.
If the conditions are unreasonable, you can ask another custody officer at the same police station to review them. This may lead to better conditions, but the other officer could also impose worse conditions, so be careful!
If the proposed bail conditions seem unreasonable, point out that the Bail Act says that conditions can only be imposed if they are necessary to ensure that you:
•surrender to custody (i.e. turn up at court); or
•don’t commit an offence while on bail; or
•don’t interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice in relation to yourself or anyone else.
If you refuse to accept the bail conditions that the police suggest, you will be kept in police custody until taken to court (by the end of the next day). You can then argue the case before the court.
When a court reviews bail conditions
A court can impose or vary bail conditions, but note that the biggest influences on courts when deciding bail conditions are the decisions made by the police in the first place! In any case, the court should give you a note of its reasons if it withholds bail or imposes or varies bail conditions.
The rules for when a court can impose conditions are essentially the same as for police, except that a court can also impose conditions to enable reports or inquiries for the court (e.g. a probation report before sentencing).
If you are currently on bail, a court can in some circumstances add extra bail conditions or even withdraw bail and remand you, on the application of the prosecution. They can only do this if (a) there is new information that was not available to the court previously, (b) it’s an indictable or ‘either way’ offence, (c) you have been given notice of the prosecution application and grounds for it, and (d) you are given a chance to make representations to the court about it.
How to appeal against bail conditions
To appeal against bail conditions imposed by a magistrates’ court, you have to go to the High Court. This can lead to an easing of the conditions, although it can also lead to harsher conditions. For this, you need a Claim Form (available from solicitors), and advice is that you should exhaust possibilities in the lower courts first (at plea hearings or pre-trial reviews): I have some notes from an activist on the process if you are considering it that may be helpful, especially if you aren’t using a solicitor.
The general rule is that the police or courts should grant you bail (with or without conditions), unless particular conditions apply. If you might be refused bail (e.g. you have a bad bail record or are going on a serious action), you might want to check this part, so that you can argue your case with the police or court if needed.
Imprisonable offences
Some of the rules about bail depend on the offence that you’re charged with, specifically whether it’s an imprisonable offence. An offence is ‘imprisonable’ if it carries a prison sentence as a maximum sentence (even if a small fine is a more likely sentence). This means that the following offences (among others) are not imprisonable:
•obstruction of highway
•breach of the peace
•section 5 of Public Order Act (disorderly conduct)
•taking part in prohibited processions, or breaking conditions imposed on processions or assemblies under the Public Order Act sections 11–14[note]
When can the police refuse bail?
If you have been charged, the police can refuse bail in the following circumstances:
•If you have not given a name or address, or the police have reasonable grounds for doubting the name or address you have given.
•If the police have reasonable grounds for believing that you won’t turn up at court (e.g. if you have not turned up in the past and have a ‘bad bail record’).
•If the police have reasonable grounds for believing that detention is necessary to prevent you from causing injury to a person, or loss of or damage to property.
•If the police have reasonable grounds for believing that detention is necessary to prevent you from interfering with the administration of justice or the investigation of an offence.
•If the police have reasonable grounds for believing that detention is necessary for your own protection or, if you are under 17, that you ought to be detained for your own interests.
•If you have been arrested for an imprisonable offence, and the police have reasonable grounds for believing that detention is necessary to prevent you from committing an offence.
Note the words “reasonable grounds” and “that detention is necessary” in the above rules. You may be able to argue that they should instead release you subject to particular bail conditions. Alternatively, you could argue that they should release you subject to a surety to vouch that you will turn up at court, if the police want to keep you in because you have a bad bail record. If this is a likely situation, you could arrange with someone to agree to act as a surety for you, in the event that it’s needed. But note that both you and your surety commit a criminal offence if you agree to indemnify your surety (e.g. if you agree to pay them what they will owe if they are your surety and you don’t turn up).
If the police refuse bail, you should be taken to court by the end of the next day after you are charged.[note]
When can a court refuse bail?
The general rule is that the court has to grant bail unless one of the following conditions applies.
•If it’s not an imprisonable offence, the court can refuse bail if you have previously not turned up after being granted bail and if the court believes that, if released on bail now, you would fail to turn up.
•If it’s an imprisonable offence, the court can refuse bail if it is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that, if released on bail, you would (a) fail to turn up, (b) commit an offence while on bail, or (c) interfere with witnesses or otherwise obstruct the course of justice in relation to yourself or anyone else. You can also be refused bail if the court is satisfied that it hasn’t been practicable to obtain sufficient information to make up its mind.
•If it’s an indictable or ‘either way’ offence (i.e. one that can be tried in front of a jury, like theft, conspiracy or major criminal damage), the court can refuse bail if you were on bail (for another offence) on the date of the offence.
•In any case (whatever the offence), the court can refuse bail if it’s satisfied that you should be kept in custody for your own protection or (if under 17) for your own welfare, OR if you’re in custody following the sentence of a court, OR if you have been arrested for ‘absconding’ (not turning up after being on bail).
If a court withholds bail, you will be kept on remand. Your bail will be reviewed by the court each week (or so) until you are either released on bail or brought to trial. When reviewing bail, the court has to hear submissions from you at the first review (even if you have made the same arguments before), but can refuse to hear the same arguments after that (you can still make a submission, so long as it’s different from before).
© Copyright 2001, Andrew Gray
What, “copyright”! Isn’t copyright evil? [ You better read these notes]
This briefing was written by me (with or without help from others) for Trident Ploughshares, but may be used freely and copied/distributed by others. In order to guarantee this freedom, the briefing is copyrighted and licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (formal license statement follows).
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”
I am not a lawyer. The briefing is not guaranteed in any way, and is not a substitute for proper legal advice. Feedback and corrections are very welcome, phone 0845 4588 368, email andrew@andrewgray.uklinux.net.
Andrew Gray, TP legal support (England & Wales)
This briefing was last revised: 9/11/2002
(See the changelog and authorship page for revision details.)