“……. the court shall ….. – a) make an order that the accused be admitted, in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 1 to theCriminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 , to such hospital as may be specified by the Secretary of State;….”
“Now, my Lord, the only qualifications to this that I have been able to discern are first of all that I take your Lordship, please, to page 756 of Archbold ……… and to theCrime (Sentences) Act 1997 section 47 . Now this appears to me to enable your Lordship to specify the hospital to which the defendant can go. Because under section 47, where there is a power, as here, under 47 (i) (d) you have the power to specify the hospital unit where he should go to. In other words Parliament is giving the judge who has heard the case the power to send to the hospital that he, no doubt on the evidence which he has heard, thinks is appropriate. So, in other words, it is a substitution of the Secretary of State’s power as I understand it. And so your Lordship can in fact – if you go back to my note – you can in fact direct, if your think it right, that the defendant should be taken forthwith to the Newton Lodge Regional Secure Unit. Of course, thereafter, if for example the Secretary of State, in consultation with the doctors, should decide that the defendant should go somewhere else, there are other provisions, as I understand it, which will enable his transfer within the system, but that at least gives your Lordship the power.”
“As I observed when speaking to the jury, it is a very sad case. I am going to make the only order that I can in the circumstances, I order that you be admitted to a hospital – I am going to specify that hospital, it is Newton Lodge Regional Secure Unit in Wakefield – where a bed is immediately available and I order that you be conveyed there immediately. This addition to the order for admission is without limit of time and there is also a Restriction Order, again without limit of time.”
“(1) A person who is admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an admission order made otherwise than under section 14A of the 1968 Act shall be treated for the purposes of the 1983 Act – (a) as if he had been so admitted in pursuance of a hospital order within the meaning of that Act made on the date of the admission order; and (b) if the court so directs, as if an order restricting his discharge had been made under section 41 of that Act, either without limitation of time or during such period as may be specified in the direction. (2) Where the offence to which the special verdict, findings or appeal relates is an offence the sentence for which is fixed by law, the court shall give a direction under sub-paragraph (1) (b) above without specifying any period.”
“(1) If, while a person is detained in pursuance of an admission order made by virtue of section 5 (1) (b) of the 1964 Act (findings of unfitness to plead etc.), the Secretary of State, after consultation with the responsible medical officer, is satisfied that that person can properly be tried, the Secretary of State may remit that person for trial either – (a) to the court of trial; or (b) to a prison; or (c) to a remand centre provided undersection 43 of the Prison Act 1952 ; and on his arrival at the court, prison or remand centre, the order shall cease to have effect.” (c) to a remand centre provided undersection 43 of the Prison Act 1952 ; order shall cease to have effect.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the accused be admitted, in accordance with Schedule 1 to theCriminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 , and within a period of two months from the date of this Order, to such hospital as may be specified by the Secretary of State. AND IT IS DIRECTED that, pending admission to the said hospital within a period of two months from the date of this Order, the accused shall be conveyed to and detained in a place of safety namely: Newton Lodge Secure Unit, Fieldhead Hospital, Ouchthorpe Lane, Wakefield AND IT IS DIRECTED that, in accordance with paragraph 2 (1) (b) of Schedule 1 to theCriminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 , the accused shall be treated as if an Order had been made underSection 41 of the Mental Health Act 1983 restricting his discharge without limitation of time.”
“It would be highly anomalous if section 4A, introduced by amendment for the protection of those unable through mental unfitness to defend themselves at trial, were itself to be held incompatible with the Convention. It is very much in the interest of such persons that the basic facts relied on against them (shorn of issues concerning intent) should be formally and publicly investigated in open court with counsel appointed to represent the interests of the person accused so far as possible in the circumstances. The position of accused persons would certainly not be improved if section 4A were abrogated. In my opinion, however, the argument is plainly bad in law. Whether one views the matter through domestic or European spectacles, the answer is the same: the purpose and function of the section 4A procedure is not to decide whether the accused person has committed a criminal offence. The procedure can result in a final acquittal, but it cannot result in a conviction and it cannot result in punishment. Even an adverse finding may lead, as here , to an absolute discharge. But if an adverse finding leads to the making of a hospital order, there is no bar to a full criminal trial if the accused person recovers, an obviously objectionable outcome if the person has already been convicted. The section 4A procedure lacks the essential features of criminal process as identified in Customs and Excise Comrs vCity of London Magistrates’ Court[2002] 1 WLR 2020 , 2025.”
“It is in my judgment the general understanding that criminal proceedings involve a formal accusation made on behalf of the state or by a private prosecutor that a defendant has committed a breach of the criminal law, and the state or the private prosecutor has instituted proceedings which may culminate in the conviction and condemnation of the defendant”
“It is the nature and character of the proceeding in which habeas corpus is sought which provide the test. If the matter is one the direct outcome of which may be trial of the applicant and his possible punishment of an alleged offence by a court claiming jurisdiction to do so, the matter is criminal.”
“The principle which I deduce from the authorities I have cited and the other relevant authorities which I have considered, is that if the cause or matter is one which, if carried to its conclusion, might result in the conviction of the person charged and in a sentence of some punishment, such as imprisonment or fine, it is a “criminal cause or matter”
“So Lord Wright was saying that you look not at the particular order under appeal, but to the underlying proceedings in which that order was made, and those are the proceeding which have to be characterised as either criminal or non-criminal.”
“… Viscount Simon intended his second sentence [as cited above] to be illustrative of a case in which the “nature and character of the proceedings” were criminal and not an exhaustive definition of such proceedings. If they were, it would be difficult to explain why an order for the taxation of the defendants costs in a failed prosecution for criminal libel was held to be “in a criminal cause or matter” in R v Steel Q.B.D 37. Indeed, I would doubt the wisdom of trying to formulate any definition of “criminal cause or matter” to supplement the undefined expression used by parliament. ”
“ 9. This Court sitting as a Court of Appeal Criminal Division had in fact no jurisdiction to consider an appeal against sentence because such an appeal can only be brought after a conviction: seesection 9 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 …. 10. The finding of unfitness brought the trial of this applicant to an immediate end: see R v Antoine[1999] 2 Cr App R 225 at 231. There is statutory right of appeal to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division against the finding that he was under a disability and against the finding that he did the acts alleged – seesection 15 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 as substituted by theCriminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991 – but there is no statutory right to appeal against the order for disposal. That has to be dealt with by means of an appeal to the Divisional Court. As explained in the case of Grant [[2002] 2 WLR 1409 ] such an appeal is not barred bySection 28 (2) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 since the trial on indictment terminated once the jury held that the appellant was unfit to be tried. Thus hearings under section 4A are not trials on indictment and an order made under section 5 is not a matter relating to a trial on indictment: see also the decision on this Court in Latif[2002] EWCA Crim 2115 .”