Article 4 Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015

In rule 3.24 (Arraigning the defendant on the indictment)—

(a)

after paragraph (4) insert—

“(5)
In a case in which a magistrates’ court sends the defendant for trial, the Crown Court must take the defendant’s plea—

(a)
not less than 2 weeks after the date on which that sending takes place, unless the parties otherwise agree; and

(b)
not more than 16 weeks after that date, unless the court otherwise directs (either before or after that period expires).”; and

(b)

in the first paragraph of the note to the rule, after ‘section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1967^f1’ insert ‘, section 77 of the Senior Courts Act 1981^f2’.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: 1967 c. 58; section 6 was amended by paragraph 41 of Schedule 36 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) and section 11 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (c. 28).
f2: 1981 c. 54; section 77 was amended by section 15 of, and paragraph 11 of Schedule 2 to, the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (c. 38), section 168 of, and paragraph 18 of Schedule 9 to, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33), section 41 of, and paragraph 54 of Schedule 3 to, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) and article 3 of, and paragraphs 11 and 13 of the Schedule to, SI 2004/2035. It is further amended by section 31 of, and paragraph 11 of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 to, the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (c. 23) with effect from a date to be appointed.