# The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, Rule 3.29: Application for joint or separate trials, etc.

Extent: E+W

(1) This rule applies where a party wants the Crown Court to order—
(a) the joint trial of—
(i) offences charged by separate indictments, or
(ii) defendants charged in separate indictments;
(b) separate trials of offences charged by the same indictment;
(c) separate trials of defendants charged in the same indictment; or
(d) the deletion of a count from an indictment.
(2) Such a party must—
(a) apply in writing—
(i) as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the grounds for doing so, and
(ii) before the trial begins, unless the grounds for the application do not arise until trial;
(b) serve the application on—
(i) the court officer, and
(ii) each other party; and
(c) in the application—
(i) specify the order proposed, and
(ii) explain why it should be made.
(3) A party who wants to make representations in response to the application must serve the representations on—
(a) the court officer; and
(b) each other party,
not more than 10 business days after service of the application.
(4) Where the same indictment charges more than one offence, the court may exercise its power to order separate trials of those offences if of the opinion that—
(a) the defendant otherwise may be prejudiced or embarrassed in his or her defence (for example, where the offences to be tried together are neither founded on the same facts nor form or are part of a series of offences of the same or a similar character); or
(b) for any other reason it is desirable that the defendant should be tried separately for any one or more of those offences.
[Note. See section 5 of the Indictments Act 1915. Rule 10.2 (The indictment: general rules) governs the form and content of an indictment.
Any issue arising from a decision under this rule may be subject to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Part 37 (Appeal to the Court of Appeal against ruling at preparatory hearing), Part 38 (Appeal to the Court of Appeal against ruling adverse to prosecution) and Part 39 (Appeal to the Court of Appeal about conviction or sentence) each contains relevant rules. The powers of the Court of Appeal on an appeal to which Part 39 applies are set out in sections 2, 3 and 7 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968.]

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/3.29 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-3.29
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.