The claimant was the wife of an offender sentenced for drug trafficking. An order was made for confiscation of the proceeds of the trafficking. She sought a certificate of inadequacy. Held: Where she ws not in a position to pay the sum ordered she was entitled to a certificate. The judge had not appreciated that … Continue reading In re May Yoong Forwell, Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986: CA 12 Nov 2003
Appeal from refusal of certificate of inadequacy. Judges: Laws LJ Citations: [2002] EWCA Civ 215 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 23 June 2022; Ref: scu.461731
An order to restrain funds was available here though foreign proceedings were in rem. Citations: Times 04-May-1994 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Practice Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.81963
The defendant had been accused of attempting to import controlled drugs, but the substances actually found were not in fact a controlled drug, though he had believed and intended them to be. He appealed saying that he should not be conviced of an . .
A court may restrain assets where a foreign drug trafficking case was proceeding. Citations: Independent 16-Aug-1995 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Practice Updated: 20 December 2022; Ref: scu.85908
No guideline for laundering of proceeds of drugs – too wide variation. Citations: Times 05-Apr-1994 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 24(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 26 October 2022; Ref: scu.87381
A judge must follow the Regina v Dickens guidelines when making a drugs confiscation order. Alliott J said: ‘We agree that if admissible evidence satisfies a judge so that he is sure that any given sum is a benefit, then there is no need for him to proceed by way of section 2(2) at all.’ … Continue reading Regina v Rose: CACD 17 Feb 1993
A Judge may make assumptions, but must decide to a criminal standard of proof in order to make a confiscation order. Citations: Gazette 02-Sep-1992 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 2(3) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.87607
Costs of drugs seized not themselves benefit to be included as trafficking proceed. Citations: Times 21-Oct-1994 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Practice Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.86044
Judge to give succinct analysis of his findings of benefits from drug trafficking. Citations: Ind Summary 14-Nov-1994 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 25 October 2022; Ref: scu.86045
Where the defendant faced a confiscation order resulting from conviction on charge only added to indictment, the period of six years was the period running up to the commencement of the proceedings to which the charge was later added, not the adding of the count. Citations: Times 15-Jul-1998, [1998] EWCA Crim 2107 Statutes: Drug Trafficking … Continue reading Regina v Gooch: CACD 26 Jun 1998
The Crown Court was able to increase the amount of a confiscation order after making the original order, where further assets were revealed, but not beyond assessed benefit to him of the crime. Judges: Rose LJ Citations: Gazette 28-May-1998, Times 06-May-1998, [1998] EWCA Crim 1370, [1999] 1 Cr App R(S) 92, [1998] Crim LR 591 … Continue reading Regina v Tivnan: CACD 6 May 1998
Drug Trafficking legislation bites on all property held by the defendant at the time of or after conviction no matter when it was acquired. Citations: Times 13-Oct-1997 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 2(3)(a)(i) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 11 October 2022; Ref: scu.86198
Sets out structure for making decisions on drug confiscation orders. Citations: Times 08-Jan-1997, [1996] EWCA Crim 1636, [1997] 1 WLR 557, [1997] 2 Cr App R (S) 99 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 08 October 2022; Ref: scu.149300
A confiscation order had been properly made against the proceeds of trafficking back to 1970, and before the Act had been created despite being retrospective. Citations: Gazette 10-Jan-1996, Times 07-Dec-1995 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 34 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 08 October 2022; Ref: scu.88159
Confiscation orders in drug trafficking allow no room for mercy consideration. Citations: Ind Summary 24-Jul-1995 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 5(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 08 October 2022; Ref: scu.86917
A confiscation order was valid despite the absence of a sentence ordered to be served in default of compliance. Citations: Times 25-Mar-1996 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 1 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 08 October 2022; Ref: scu.86631
Judges: Leggatt LJ, Waterhouse, Potts JJ Citations: [1991] EWCA Crim 1, (1992) 13 Cr App R (S) 66, [1991] Crim LR 791 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing, Costs Updated: 28 July 2022; Ref: scu.448370
Costs of intervention in restraining order to come from central funds. Citations: Gazette 13-Jan-1993 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 8(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Costs Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.82049
The police had obtained an ex parte order for the production of files from a firm of solicitors relating to financial transactions of one of their clients. The police believed that the client had been provided with money to purchase property by an alleged drug trafficker. The solicitors relied on the exemption in section 27(4)(ii) … Continue reading Regina v Central Criminal Court ex parte Francis and Francis: HL 1989
The defendant had been convicted of supplying cannabis resin. He received a payment 2,500 and appealed a confiscation order for that amount, saying that the profit was much less. Held: In section 2(1)(a) the phrase ‘any payments’ had a wide interpretation and was not restricted to the net profits of trafficking. It can include any … Continue reading Regina v Smith (Ian): CACD 1989
The defendant had been convicted of conspiring to import cannabis, and made subject inter alia to a confiscation order. Held: ‘ the object of the Act is to ensure, so far as is possible, that the convicted drug trafficker is parted from the proceeds of any drug trafficking which he has carried out. The provisions … Continue reading Regina v Dickens: CACD 11 Apr 1990
After a drugs trial, the commissioners sought a confiscation order against the defendant’s assets. The defendant’s wife argued that the house was in reality hers. The trial judge found against her. In later proceedings enforce the order, the wife again sought to assert an interest. It was held that the provisions allowing such a challenge … Continue reading Clifford R Norris, Re; In the Matter of an Application By Teresa W Norris: CA 27 Jan 2000
Citations: [1998] EWHC Admin 1049 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jury Updated: 27 May 2022; Ref: scu.139170
Citations: [1998] EWHC Admin 148 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Crime Updated: 27 May 2022; Ref: scu.138269
Citations: [1997] EWHC Admin 1100 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Crime Updated: 26 May 2022; Ref: scu.138045
The applicant was convicted in 1988 of drug offences committed in 1986. The judge passed a sentence of imprisonment but imposed a confiscation order pursuant to an Act that came into force in l987. Held: The concept of penalty in Article 7 was an autonomous Convention concept and that to render the protection of Article … Continue reading Welch v United Kingdom: ECHR 15 Feb 1995
At the trial of a substantive claim for declarations of property rights in the context of confiscation proceedings under the 1986 Act, two interested parties sought to dismissal or stay of the claims dismissed for delay. The proceedings went back to arrests and orders in 1993. Reliance was placed upon Article 6 of the ECHR. … Continue reading Crown Prosecution Service v Bentham: Admn 2003
The defendant was the only one of several defendants convicted of involvement in a drugs case. He appealed a confiscation order under which he carried the entire weight of the confiscation order. Held: The order was correct provided that the court could assess the value to be attributed to the proceeds of drug trafficking, and … Continue reading Regina v Chrastny (No 2): CACD 14 Mar 1991
An order under the Act prohibited K from disposing of his assets, including a deposit account with the bank. K had an overdraft facility secured against the deposit account. The bank sought to set off the overdraft against the sums held on deposit. Held: the bank was free to consolidate the accounts. Its actions would … Continue reading Re K (Restraint Order): 1990
The Court should be very careful before confiscating a defendant’s home in drug cases. Citations: Times 31-Oct-1995 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86770
Non-payment under confiscation order is not imprisonable, so a parolee may not properly be imprisoned for a sentence in default. Citations: Times 17-Mar-1998 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 6 Criminal Sentencing Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86383
Information obtained directly from a restraint order was not to be used against the restrainee. Citations: Times 21-Apr-1995 Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 78 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Practice Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81800
The defendant had pleaded guilty to offences of obtaining property by deception, The judge discussed the issue of the obtaining of benefit saying: ‘The fact that he may not have personally received all or some of the money in relation to any of those offences is immaterial for the initial purpose of determining the total … Continue reading Regina v Rees: 19 Jul 1990
The benefit from criminal activity had been pounds 396,000-odd and the Crown had been able positively to prove realisable assets worth pounds 214,000-odd in the hands of the defendant. Held: Taylor LJ considered the terms of section 4(3): ‘If the court is satisfied that the amount that might be realised at the time the confiscation … Continue reading Regina v Ilsemann: CACD 1990
Each defendant appealed against confiscation orders made when the sentence imposed was an absolute or conditional discharge. They said that Clarke made such orders unlawful. Held: The decision in Clarke was a difficult limitation on the court’s discretion: ‘there are cases in which the combination of an order for discharge with a confiscation order represents … Continue reading Regina v Magro: CACD 8 Jul 2010
The applicant’s husband had been made the subject of a drugs confiscation order. Part of this was an order against the house. She had failed in asserting that the house was hers. Her appeal to a civil court had been disallowed as an abuse. It was held that the civil court was looking to different … Continue reading In re Norris, Application by Norris: HL 28 Jun 2001
The defendant had been convicted of involvement in a substantial VAT fraud, and made subject to a confiscation order. He was made subject to a confiscation order in respect of the amounts lost to the fraud where he was involved, but argued that the court had made each of 16 defendants liable for the full … Continue reading May, Regina v: HL 14 May 2008
The appellant and a co-defendant were charged with conspiracy to launder property which they had reasonable grounds to suspect was the proceeds of drug trafficking or other criminal conduct. The prosecution accepted that they could not establish that the property was the proceeds of crime, and it was not alleged that the defendants knew that … Continue reading Harmer v Regina: CACD 21 Jan 2005
The defendant appealed conviction on three counts of conspiracy to launder money. The prosecution said that he and his co-accused engaged in money laundering between June 1999 and March 2000. Each count alleged that he and his co-conspirators engaged in transactions which were prohibited by section 49(2)(b) of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 and section … Continue reading Regina v Gulbir Rana Singh: CACD 18 Dec 2003
Having been convicted of theft, a confiscation order had been made against which the appellant appealed. The Court of Appeal certified a question of whether confiscation provisions under the 1988 Act were in breach of the defendant’s human rights. Are applications for confiscation orders criminal proceedings under the Convention, and if so do the assumptions … Continue reading Regina v Rezvi: HL 24 Jan 2002
Application re confiscation order. Judges: Latham J Citations: [1999] EWHC Admin 287 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drug Trafficking Offences Act of 1986 Criminal Practice Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.139551
Citations: [1997] EWHC Admin 1127 Links: Bailii Statutes: Drugs Trafficking Offences Act 1986 Jury Updated: 26 May 2022; Ref: scu.138072
The defendant challenged the obligatory requirement that evidence given by a person under 17 in sex or violent offence cases must normally be given by video link. Held: The purpose of the section was to improve the quality of the evidence presented to a court. There was no absolute right for a defendant to be … Continue reading D (A Minor), Regina (on the Application of) v Camberwell Green Youth Court: HL 27 Jan 2005
The defendant and a co-defendant admitted drugs offences. They were found to have jointly benefited in accordance with section 1(2) of the 1986 Act, that the extent of that benefit was andpound;9,600 and that they should jointly and severally be ordered to pay that sum. The Court was asked whether the confiscation order could properly … Continue reading Regina v Porter: CACD 1990
The applicant sought assistance from the local authority. He suffered from spinal myeloma, was destitute and an asylum seeker. Held: Although the Act had withdrawn the obligation to provide assistance for many asylum seekers, those who were infirm and whose infirmity was not a consequence of their destitution, had not been excluded. Only able bodied … Continue reading Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service: HL 17 Oct 2002
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him. Held: The appeal failed (by a majority). The … Continue reading Roberts v Parole Board: HL 7 Jul 2005
Need for Certainty in Scope of Offence The appellant suffered a severe chronic illness and anticipated that she might want to go to Switzerland to commit suicide. She would need her husband to accompany her, and sought an order requiring the respondent to provide clear guidelines on the circumstances under which someone might be prosecuted … Continue reading Purdy, Regina (on the Application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions: HL 30 Jul 2009
The appellants challenged decisions of the VAT and Duties Tribunal after seizure of their goods, and in particular whether the cases had been criminal or civil cases and following Roth, whether the respondent’s policy had been lawful and proportionate. Held: The present procedure does not involve the criminal courts and the absence of any criminal … Continue reading Gora and others v Commissioners of Customs and Excise and others: CA 11 Apr 2003
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations. Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed. Lord Bingham stated: ‘While an oral hearing is most obviously necessary to achieve a just decision in a case where facts are … Continue reading Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals): HL 27 Jan 2005
The applicants had been made subject of anti-social behaviour orders. They challenged the basis upon which the orders had been made. Held: The orders had no identifiable consequences which would make the process a criminal one. Civil standards of evidence therefore applied, and hearsay evidence was admissible. Nevertheless, the test as to whether it was … Continue reading Clingham (formerly C (a minor)) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Regina v Crown Court at Manchester Ex parte McCann and Others: HL 17 Oct 2002
The police had refused to returns items seized from Mr Owens on the basis that to do so would indirectly encourage and assist him in suspected criminal activity. CCTV footage had been removed from him to attempt identify an arsonist of a house.The claimant, a British National Party member had been the subject of the … Continue reading Merseyside Police v Owens: Admn 31 May 2012
The claimant sought return of items removed by the defendants under the 1984 Act. A decision had been made against a prosecution by the police. The police wished to hold onto the items to allow a decision from the second defendant. Held: The defendant’s appeal succeeded. The offence allowed an officer to seize material found … Continue reading Scopelight Ltd and Others v Chief of Police for Northumbria: CA 5 Nov 2009
After the defendant was arrested for drugs offences a restraint order was made to prevent dissipation of his assets. Orders were made to vary the restraint to allow payment of his sons school fees, and in family proceedings for a payment to his wife. The Commissioners of Customs and Excise appealed the latter order. Held: … Continue reading In re Peters: CA 1988
