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Under the Bail Act 1976 there is a general presumption that a person accused of an offence should be granted bail when he appears before a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court in the course of proceedings for the offence, or when he applies for bail. However, this presumption does not apply in specified circumstances, including where the offence is punishable by imprisonment and there are substantial grounds for believing that the accused would abscond, commit an offence or interfere with witnesses while on bail.

If the decision to grant a suspect bail is taken by a magistrates’ court, then under the Bail (Amendment) Act 1993 the prosecution can appeal against this decision to the Crown Court. However, if the decision to grant a suspect bail is taken by a Crown Court, then there is currently no prosecution right of appeal against this.

The Government is proposing to legislate (by way of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill) to introduce a new prosecution right of appeal against Crown Court decisions to grant a suspect bail. This proposed change is largely down to a campaign by John and Penny Clough, whose daughter Jane was murdered by her ex-partner Jonathan Vass. At the time of the murder Vass was on bail awaiting trial for nine counts of rape and four counts of assault against Jane. When charged he had initially been remanded in custody by magistrates but he successfully appealed against this decision and was granted bail by the Crown Court. The prosecution had no right of appeal against this decision under the current provisions of the 1993 Act.

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