UK Offence Report

Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2014

article 5(i)(iv) of The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2015

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

iv for the fourth sentence of the note to the rule substitute ‘Under section 342 of the 2002 Act and under article

5 of the 2014 Order, subject to the exceptions for which those provide it is an offence to make

a disclosure likely to prejudice an investigation or to interfere with documents relevant to it.’; and

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach article 5(i)(iv)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words it is an offence to make a disclosure likely to prejudice an investigation or to interfere with documents relevant to it.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2015.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
7 January 2015
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Rules) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules make the following amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2014, S.I. 2014/1610: Rule Amendment Part 3 Rules 3.9 and 3.13 are amended to provide for a ‘ground rules hearing’ at which the court may give directions for the appropriate treatment and questioning of, in particular, a vulnerable witness or defendant. Part 6 Rules 6.1, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.17, 6.18, 6.19 and 6.22 are amended to provide for (i) applications for investigation orders under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Investigations) Order 2014 and (ii) applications to Crown Court judges for production orders in detained cash investigations, when section 66 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 comes into force. Part 14 Rules 14.1 and 14.2 are amended to omit references to committal for trial, following the abolition of that procedure. Part 17 Rule 17.21(4) is amended to clarify and correct two sub-paragraphs. Part 39 Rule 39.1 is amended to correct a reference to the county court. Part 50 The Part is renamed and rules 50.1, 50.2, 50.4 and 50.5 are amended (i) to define the scope of the Part, (ii) to omit references to drinking banning orders, which have been repealed, and (iii) to provide for applications to vary orders by the Director of the Serious Fraud Office. Part 52 Rules 52.1, 52.7, 52.8 and 52.9 are amended to provide for applications made under regulations that supplement the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Part 58 Rules 58.1 to 58.11 are amended to incorporate procedures required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and to include notes to the rules. Rules 58.13 to 58.15 are added to provide for applications and appeals under sections 67A to 67D of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, when they come into force. Part 59 The Part is renamed and rules 59.7 to 59.11 are added to provide for applications and appeals under sections 47A to 47S of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, when they come into force. Part 63 A new rule 63.7 is added to require notice when further evidence is to be introduced on an appeal to the Crown Court from a magistrates’ court. Part 76 Rule 76.11 is amended to provide for some costs assessments under that rule to be carried out by any member of the staff of the Lord Chancellor. The amendments to Parts 6, 17, 39, 52 and 76, and to the preamble, come into force on 2nd February 2015 and the other changes made by these Rules come into force on 6th April 2015.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source