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LPC Law Notes Criminal Litigation Notes

Allocation Trial Bail Hearsay Notes

Updated Allocation Trial Bail Hearsay Notes

Criminal Litigation Notes

Criminal Litigation

Approximately 143 pages

A collection of the best LPC Criminal Litigation notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through dozens of LPC samples from outstanding students with the highest results in England and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor".

In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of Criminal Lit notes available in the UK this year. This collection of notes is fully up...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Criminal Litigation Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

11 Undischarged bankrupts

(1) It is an offence for a person who is an undischarged bankrupt to act as director of, or directly or indirectly to take part in or be concerned in the promotion, formation or management of, a company, except with the leave of the court.

13 Criminal penalties

If a person acts in contravention of a disqualification order or is guilty of an offence under section 11, he is liable—

(a) If tried at Crown Court:

  • on conviction on indictment, sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 2 years; or

  • a fine, or both; and

  • Crown Court may impose a Disqualification Order for up to 15 years

(b) If tried at Magistrates Court:

  • conviction on summary, to imprisonment for not more than 6 months; or

  • a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently 5,000), or both; and

  • Magistrates Court may impose a Disqualification Order for up to 5 years

This is a strict liability offence, so it is irrelevant what the Defendant’s state of mind was (R v Doring). As there are no guidelines on sentencing for this offence, case law is relevant in order to determine the likely sentence. Case law indicates that an undischarged bankrupt taking part in management of a company, is likely to get:

  • A custodial order for 6 months; and

  • Disqualification as Director

Matters the Magistrates will take into account when deciding whether or not to accept jurisdiction and are the magistrates likely to accept Jurisdiction:

  • Section 19(3) Magistrates Court Act 1980 whether the sentence the magistrates would have power to impose is adequate.

  • Any representations made by the prosecution (including telling the court of the D’s previous convictions) or the defence.

  • The Allocation guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council. The starting point is to presume that the case will be suitable for summary trial unless its powers of punishment are insufficient (6 months imprisonment and or a level 5 fine).

  • In relation to the definitive sentencing guidelines (Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines) for Fraud – confidence the starting point sentence if the value is below 10.000 a medium level community order with a sentencing range of a fine (Band B) up to 6 weeks custody.

  • All factors point towards the magistrates accepting jurisdiction given the low value of the and that this was not a particularly sophisticated offence (see J. Hussein statement about how easy it was to commit the offence).

  • The court will almost certainly accept jurisdiction.

Plea Procedure

Allocation & Sending

P.128

In certain circumstances, either-way offences will be sent straight to the Crown Court under s.50 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998:

  1. Complex fraud cases under s.51B of the 1998 Act;

  2. Cases involving children;

  3. Where there is an either-way offence related to an indictable only offence;

Plea before venue Procedure

P.128

Plea Before Venue: Procedure

  1. Charge read out to the D;

  2. D is asked how he will plea.

  1. If guilty plea: P.256

3. If NOT guilty plea: P.129
  1. CPS representative will outline the facts of the case to the magistrates.

  2. Prosec. outlines D’s previous convictions (CONDUCT = must see P.264)

  3. Prosec. asks for ancillary orders (P.240)

  4. D’s Sol may ask to adjourn (to get med. or other reports to use for mitigation)

  5. D’s solicitor will give a plea in mitigation.

  6. Magistrates will then decide if they have sufficient sentencing powers (magistrates’ max powers is six months imprisonment for one either-way offence or 12 months for two either-way offences and a 5,000 fine). They will:

  1. If magistrates’ powers are sufficient, they will sentence D immediately or adjourn.

  2. If adjourned bail application is made. D may be either released on bail or remanded in custody.

  3. If magistrates’ powers are insufficient, they will commit D to Crown Court for sentence (s.3 Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2003).

  1. If D pleads not guilty in the following circumstances the court shall send the D to the Crown Court for trial (Crime and Disorder Act 1998, s.50A(3)(b)):

    1. D is sent to the Crown C for a related offence;

    2. D is charged with another adult D who is sent to the Crown C for a related offence;

    3. D is charged jointly, or charged with a related either-way offence, with a youth D who si sent to the Crown C.

  2. If not within the above the Magistrates Court must determine whether the offence appears more suitable for summary trial or trial on indictment i.e. make a decision as to allocation (s.19 Magistrates court Act 1880)

Allocation

P.128

6. The prosecution will inform the court of the facts and D’s previous convictions (if any) and ask for Ancillary Orders (P.240) (CONDUCT = must see P.264)

7. The court shall consider:

i. whether its power of sentence would be adequate;

ii. any representations made by the prosecution or defence;

iii. The allocation guidelines issued by the Sentencing Council P.510

iv. the Magistrate’s Court Sentencing Guidelines

8. when dealing with 2 or more offences the court should consider its sentencing powers

9. If the court decides that the offence appears more suitable for trial on indictment, the D is sent forthwith to the Crown Court

10. if court decides that the case is more suitable for summary trial, it must explain to D that:

i. the case appears suitable for summary trial;

ii. D can consent to be tried summarily or choose to be tried on indictment; and

iii. if D consents to summary trial & is convicted, D may be sent to Crown C for sentencing

11. Application for bail is made = accepted/refused (therefore D may either be released on bail or remanded in custody)

Advising D on his choice of court When D can choose to be sentenced summarily or on indictment
  • Always remember to apply the following to the facts!

  • Remember to clearly advise on a specific court!

  • John Scott’s case = advise him Mag C regardless of his plea. If we have a NG plea + strong defence + good evidence = advice Crown C. But very unlikely on the facts.

Magistrates...

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