Whether a defendant awaits trial at liberty or in custody — the statutory right to bail, the grounds for withholding it, and the conditions that can be attached.
Few decisions in criminal procedure matter more to a defendant than whether the months before trial are spent at home or on remand. This chapter starts with the framework of the Bail Act 1976 and the general right to bail, then works through the grounds on which bail may be refused for imprisonable and non-imprisonable offences, and the conditions a court may impose — including sureties and securities. It moves to bail decisions at the police station, the duty to record reasons, and the routes for renewing a refused application, appealing a grant of bail or varying conditions. It closes with breach and failure to surrender, remand periods and custody time limits, and the distinct rules governing bail pending appeal and the remand of children.
