3.3 Remands, Adjournments & Custody Time Limits
Key Takeaways
- A magistrates' court may adjourn at any stage under section 10 MCA 1980, and on adjourning must either remand the defendant on bail or in custody, or leave them at large.
- The general limit on a remand in custody is 8 clear days, extended to 28 days under section 128A MCA 1980 where the court has previously remanded the defendant in custody and can set a date for the next stage.
- A defendant already remanded in custody may consent to be remanded in their absence for up to three further periods of 8 clear days.
- Custody time limits under section 22 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 are 56 days to summary trial, 70 days before summary trial of an either-way offence, and 182 days from sending to the start of the Crown Court trial less time already spent in custody.
- A custody time limit may be extended only if the prosecution shows good and sufficient cause and that it has acted with all due diligence and expedition; on expiry the defendant must be granted bail.
3.3 Remands, Adjournments & Custody Time Limits
Bail applications get the attention, but the surrounding machinery — how long a defendant can be remanded for, and how long they can be held before trial — generates a steady stream of SBA questions because the figures are precise and easy to test.
1. Adjournment and remand
Under s.10 MCA 1980 a magistrates' court may adjourn a summary trial or a pre-trial hearing at any stage. When it adjourns, it must decide what to do with the defendant. The three options are:
- Remand on bail — with or without conditions;
- Remand in custody; or
- Leave the defendant at large (no remand at all, so the defendant simply attends the next hearing; the court cannot do this where the defendant appeared in answer to a warrant or has been in custody).
Remand decisions are challengeable only in narrow ways. There is no appeal against an adjournment as such; the remedy for an obviously unreasonable refusal or grant of an adjournment is judicial review.
2. The length of a remand
| Situation | Maximum period |
|---|---|
| Remand in custody, general rule | 8 clear days (s.128(6) MCA 1980) |
| Remand in custody where the court has previously remanded the defendant in custody for the same offence, the defendant is before the court, and the court can fix the date for the next stage | 28 clear days (s.128A MCA 1980) |
| Remand in custody in the defendant's absence, with the defendant's consent, having already been remanded in custody | Up to three successive periods of 8 clear days (s.128(3A)) |
| Remand on bail | Any period the parties agree; without consent, 8 clear days |
| Remand for medical reports | 3 weeks in custody / 4 weeks on bail |
"Clear days" excludes the day of the remand and the day of the next appearance, so an 8-clear-day remand made on a Monday brings the defendant back on the Wednesday of the following week.
Note the practical point behind s.128A: it exists so that a defendant awaiting a Crown Court case is not produced fortnightly for no purpose. It does not apply on the first remand into custody.
3. Custody time limits
The Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, s.22 and the Prosecution of Offences (Custody Time Limits) Regulations 1987 cap the total period a defendant may be held in custody awaiting the relevant stage of proceedings. The regime is a statutory backstop on delay, entirely separate from bail.
| Stage | Custody time limit |
|---|---|
| From first appearance to the start of summary trial of a summary offence | 56 days |
| From first appearance to the start of summary trial of an either-way offence | 70 days — reduced to 56 days if the allocation decision for summary trial is taken within 56 days |
| From sending under s.51 CDA 1998 to the start of the Crown Court trial | 182 days, less any period already spent in custody before sending |
The trial "starts" for these purposes when the jury is sworn (Crown Court) or when the court begins to hear the prosecution evidence (magistrates' court), so an arraignment or a pre-trial hearing does not stop the clock.
Extending a custody time limit
The court may extend, or further extend, a custody time limit — but only if the prosecution satisfies a two-limb test (s.22(3)):
- There is good and sufficient cause for the extension; and
- The prosecution has acted with all due diligence and expedition.
Both limbs must be made out. A shortage of court rooms or judges can amount to good and sufficient cause, but it will not save a prosecution that has been dilatory in serving evidence. The application must be made before the limit expires — the court has no power to extend retrospectively.
Consequences of expiry
If a custody time limit expires without extension, the defendant is entitled to bail in respect of that offence. That entitlement is powerful but not unlimited:
- The court cannot remand the defendant in custody for that offence, whatever the strength of the Schedule 1 grounds;
- The court may still impose bail conditions, including a curfew, tagging or a residence requirement;
- The exceptions in Schedule 1 relating to a risk of failing to surrender, committing offences on bail or interfering with witnesses do not revive the power to remand in custody once the limit has gone;
- The defendant may still be held on other matters — a separate warrant, a different set of proceedings, or a prison sentence being served.
Expiry is therefore an event to diarise: defence counsel calculates the limit at the first hearing, and the prosecution must issue any extension application in good time.
Exam traps in this section
- 8 clear days is the general custody remand; 28 days requires a previous custody remand, the defendant present, and a fixed next date.
- The Crown Court limit is 182 days from sending, minus pre-sending custody — not 182 days from arrest, and not 182 days from arraignment.
- Extension is prospective only, and both limbs — good and sufficient cause and all due diligence and expedition — must be satisfied.
- On expiry the defendant gets bail, not release without conditions.
A defendant is remanded into custody for the first time at their initial appearance on an either-way charge. Defence counsel asks the court to remand for 28 days so that the defendant is not produced repeatedly. Can the court do so?
A defendant sent to the Crown Court is approaching the end of the 182-day custody time limit. The prosecution applies on the last day for an extension, explaining that no court room has been available and that the papers were served four months late because of resourcing pressures in the CPS. How should the judge approach the application?
A custody time limit expires without an extension having been sought. The prosecution argues that the defendant remains a serious risk of absconding and of interfering with witnesses. What is the court's power?