# The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, Rule 9.8: Adult defendant: request for plea

Extent: E+W

(1) This rule applies where—
(a) the defendant is 18 or over; and
(b) the court must decide whether a case is more suitable for trial in a magistrates’ court or in the Crown Court.
(2) The court must read the allegation of the offence to the defendant.
(3) The court must explain, in terms the defendant can understand (with help, if necessary)—
(a) the allegation, unless it is self-explanatory;
(b) that the offence is one which can be tried in a magistrates’ court or in the Crown Court;
(c) that the court is about to ask whether the defendant intends to plead guilty;
(d) that if the answer is ‘yes’, then the court must treat that as a guilty plea and must sentence the defendant, or commit the defendant to the Crown Court for sentence;
(e) that if the defendant does not answer, or the answer is ‘no’, then—
(i) the court must decide whether to allocate the case to a magistrates’ court or to the Crown Court for trial,
(ii) the value involved may require the court to order trial in a magistrates’ court (where the offence is one to which section 22 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 applies), and
(iii) if the court allocates the case to a magistrates’ court for trial, the defendant can nonetheless require trial in the Crown Court (unless the offence is one to which section 22 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 applies and the value involved requires magistrates’ court trial); and
(f) that reporting restrictions apply, which the defendant may ask the court to vary or remove.
(4) The court must then ask whether the defendant intends to plead guilty.
[Note. See section 17A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980.
For the circumstances in which a magistrates’ court may (and, in some cases, must) commit a defendant to the Crown Court for sentence after that defendant has indicated an intention to plead guilty where this rule applies, see sections 18 and 20 of the Sentencing Act 2020.
See also Part 6 (Reporting, etc. restrictions).]

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/9.8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-9.8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.